Jagan builds support for three-capitals plan ahead of SC hearing on issue

While a division bench will start hearing the case from November 14, YSRCP ministers, MLAs and leaders are holding public meetings on the ground across the state on a daily basis, along with taking out rallies and campaigning door-to-door, seeking support of the people and asking them to endorse the CM’s plan. Two massive meetings were also held—one in Visakhapatnam, the other in Tirupati, last week. “This is to demonstrate solidarity with CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision for the decentralisation and establishment of three capitals in the state. Huge number of people are in support,” said MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, who, along with Tirupati MP M. Gurumoorthy, organised the rallies and public meetings.

YSRCP leaders are also pushing local elected bodies to pass resolutions in support of the decentralised development plan. Last week, the standing council of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, in which the YSRCP is in a majority, passed a resolution in support of the plan, with Visakhapatnam as the executive capital.

Similar efforts are also going on in Kurnool and other districts. “A majority of the people in the state support the CM’s idea of decentralised development. If not for legal issues, the government would have gone ahead with the plan already, because it will ensure equal development of all regions. We think the CM is right in his assessment that while the TDP’s plan to build Amaravati from scratch alone would entail an expenditure of Rs 1.10 lakh crore just for basic infrastructure, we can develop Vizag as the executive capital with just Rs 10,000 crore,” said state Education Minister Botsa Satyanaryana, who hails from Vizianagaram district in north AP. “For north Andhra to develop, Vizag must become the executive capital. Right now, there isn’t much development in those districts,” said state Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, who hails from Srikakulam.

The push to implement the CM’s plan has brought the YSRCP in direct confrontation with the TDP and the Jana Sena Party (JSP). Last month, Vizag Police cracked down on Jana Sena leaders and cadres, after they allegedly attacked YSRCP ministers outside the Vizag airport, as they returned from a public meeting in the city in support of the three capitals plan. Police also declined to give permission to JSP chief K. Pawan Kalyan to hold a meeting, as the state government felt it would turn into an anti-decentralisation gathering.

YSRCP and TDP workers have also clashed over the issue at various places. Pawan Kalyan has been taking digs at the state government, asking why they are stopping with three capitals. “If decentralised development is the solution to everything, why stop at three capitals? Why not have a capital in each of the 25 districts? Does this government believe in laws and the Constitution?” he asked at a public meeting recently.

Meanwhile, farmers of Amaravati who gave land for the capital city, are on a padayatra across the state, demanding that the state government develop the capital there. The farmers’ protest, under the banner of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi, has crossed 1,000 days already.

YSRCP leaders and cadres have attempted to scuttle the padayatra, and at some places, even clashed with them. On October 18, supporters of the YSRCP MP from Rajamahendravam, Margani Bharat, attacked the farmers’ padayatra at Azad Chowk in Rajamahendravam. “Our protest is peaceful, our march is peaceful. We’re just demanding justice. If we’re attacked, we’ll face that, too,” said the leader of the Samithi, G Tirupati Rao.