Visakhapatnam: The YSRC government is determined to make Visakhapatnam the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh, revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao has asserted.
He was addressing the party’s election meeting in Srikakulam town on Tuesday.
Prasada Rao said Chandrababu Naidu never intended to make Amaravati the state capital.
“Instead, he wanted to do real estate business with the lands acquired from the farmers,’’ Dharmana said.
Long ago, people from Srikakulam went to Chennai, when it was their capital, the next generation of inhabitants went to Kurnool and the recent generations went to Hyderabad, to eke out a living, he noted.
“But, when the present generation wanted Visakhapatnam as the capital, Chandrababu Naidu stood in the way.”
The minister said Chandrababu Naidu and his associates acquired 33,000 acres of land in Amaravati for real estate business. The real farmers are those who were demanding their lands back so as to resume their agricultural activities. “But those who wanted to do real estate business with their lands were not farmers,” he said.
Praising Jagan Mohan Reddy for spearheading the development of the north Andhra region in the last five years, the minister said Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy too, as CM, had focused on development of north Andhra.
“As promised, Jagan Mohan Reddy built a hospital at Palasa to treat chronic kidney patients of Uddanam, brought water from Hiramandalam spending `700 crore and initiated the `3,500 crore Mulapeta sea port, which would soon link Srikakulam district with the outside world.”
“Let Chandrababu Naidu explain what he did for north Andhra in his 14 years as chief minister,’’ Dharmana said.
In an earlier meeting, the minister accused Chandrababu Naidu of not considering the welfare of other groups and focusing only on self-gain during his time in power. Dharmana also criticised Chandrababu Naidu for “stalling volunteers from distributing pensions to poor people.”
