Naidu to tour Amaravati villages on Thursday

Former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu will be visiting some of the villages that constitute the capital region of Amravati here on Thursday. Naidu is expected to highlight the extent of development that took place during his tenure and the repercussions of the stop order given by the YSR Congress government stalling the construction work in Amaravati.

TDP chief accompanied by party legislators will also interact with the farmers who have pooled their valuable land hoping for high returns for the plots allocated to them in lieu of the land they have pooled. “The Party Chief will also give a befitting reply to the allegations of Municipal Minister Botsa Satyanarayana that the area is flood-prone and is chosen to benefit only one particular community,” a senior party leader from Coastal AP said.

The first jolt to Naidu’s pet project was immediately after YS Jaganmohan Reddy took over as Chief Minister when he refrained from seeking central assistance for Amaravati when he first met the Prime Minister with his wish list. Following that World Bank and the Asian, Infrastructure Investment Bank backed off from funding the project to the tune of $500 mn. The government also terminated a deal with Singapore consortium to develop the 1700 acre start-up area.

The YS Jaganmohan Reddy government has appointed an expert committee to scout for a suitable place for the state capital and the committee has toured the Capital area and is expected to submit its report soon. Meanwhile, the farmers of Amaravati moved high court seeking justice as they could see that the government is keen on moving away from the capital to some other place. The case is pending before the HC.

However, in a swift move, the Chief Minister has directed the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) to speed up the work and to restrain from splurging money on the construction work. The government’s move came after the union government rectified the newly released map of India consisting of divided Jammu and Kashmir, but no capital for AP. Despite of the Jagan government’s move to set the construction in motion days before Naidu’s visit the TDP leaders are upbeat that the visit will highlight the need for a robust capital that could kick start development in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh.