TIRUPATI: Telugu Desam president Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated that Amaravati would go down in history as the People's Capital and there would be no Jagan Reddy Capital in Andhra Pradesh state.
The TD chief on Friday took part in the Amaravati Parirakshana Mahodyama Sabha organised in Tirupati as part of the valedictory of the 450km-walkathon (Nyayasthanam to devasthanam) taken up by Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi-Joint Action Committee (APS-JAC) members.
Naidu said the leaders of even the national political parties came here to support Amaravati and chief minister Jagan should explain whether these leaders also belonged to that one particular caste against which the YSR Congress party leaders were making allegations.
“BJP expressed its support to Amaravati as the one and only capital. Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan has already conveyed his solidarity to the farmers' struggle. CPI is supporting the movement right from the beginning and CPM leaders, who might not have attended this meeting, also vowed their support to the movement. But the ruling YSRC was the only party that started betraying Amaravati farmers and thereby all the five-crore people of AP”, he said.
Naidu wondered why CM Jagan was not changing his stand when all the opposition parties are opposing the three capitals plan.
“In fact, Jagan took a complete U-turn over the establishment of capital in Amaravati. When he was in opposition, he said at least 30,000 acres of land is required to establish a capital city and promised his support for declaring Amaravati as the state capital. But now, he took a complete a U-turn even as 35,000 acres of land is available in Amaravati”, Naidu said.
He said the farmers and women, including the aged people, completed the mega walkathon despite blisters and swellings in their legs and despite foisting of false cases by police and constant harassment from the ruling party. “Amaravati farmers were agitating for over 725 days. Over 180 agitators have died so far for the cause of ‘One Capital One State’. Thousands of false cases were also filed and over 100 were filed against people who took up the padayatra only”, he added.
Naidu flayed the government for filing SC, ST atrocities against the SC/ST farmers in Amaravati. “What crimes have these farmers committed to deserve such inhuman treatment at the hands of this heartless regime,” he asked.
The TDP chief said Jagan was running his government from the buildings constructed for Secretariat, Assembly and residential quarters in Amaravati.
Meanwhile, former state BJP chief Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, CPI national secretary Narayana, CPI state secretary Ramakrishna and a host of leaders from various parties including TDP, BJP, Jana Sena, Congress, CPI etc took part in the meeting. They expressed their solidarity to the prolonged struggle of Amaravati farmers.
