Amaravati: Chandrababu Requests Modi

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo and Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect Amaravati as the single capital for Andhra Pradesh. He reminded that even the Centre had invested in building the capital, Amaravati, and hence, had the responsibility to protect the city and the state too.

Addressing the media on the completion of 200 days of protests by the farmers who had given up 33,000 acres of their land for the Capital project, Naidu said any government would decide on the capital city only once but not keep changing it with every new political party coming to power.

The farmers have been opposing trifurcation of the capital in the name of decentralisation of powers.

“Never in the history of any state was the capital changed after establishing it at one place. If change of Chief Minister means change of capital, the future of the country would become uncertain,” Naidu said.

Even in the AP Reorganisation Act, it was mentioned ‘a capital’ but not ‘three capitals’, he reminded.

The Opposition leader faulted the YSRC government for criticising Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman when she asked why was it charging Rs 9 per unit of power while the Centre was supplying power through NTPC by charging only Rs 2.75 per unit. He fumed at the state government for failing to respect the Opposition, courts, Indian Constitution and even the Centre.