Hours after the YSR Congress party state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy took a U-turn on three capitals and declared that Jagan, if returns to power, will rule only from Amaravati, the party realised that the changed stand might benefit the Telugu Desam Party led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
So, senior YSRCP leader and former minister Ambati Rambabu began singing a different tune on Amaravati.
According to him, Amaravati as a capital city is okay, but the project envisioned by Naidu is dangerous and disastrous.
“We never said Amaravati will not be the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. But Naidu’s ambitious Amaravati capital project will push Andhra Pradesh into a deep financial crisis,” Ambati said.
He said the government has committed to spending Rs 1 lakh crore on Amaravati, of which Rs 52,000 crore would be borrowed, an approach he termed as “wasteful and dangerous.”
He argued that the capital could have been developed with far fewer resources.
“Our leader Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is of the view that just 500 acres of land between Guntur and Vijayawada is sufficient to build a capital. But instead, Naidu is trying to acquire a lakh acres and is pushing the state into unsustainable debt,” Ambati said.
Rambabu also highlighted the plight of farmers who gave their land for the capital. He said they were suffering from unfulfilled promises and recurring natural calamities.
Recent heavy rains, he pointed out, submerged Amaravati villages and even washed away parts of newly laid highways.
“Amaravati is the biggest blunder of Chandrababu’s career. Not even 30 years would be enough to build the city in the grand manner he promises. For him, Amaravati has become an ATM machine, where mobilization advances are handed out and commissions pocketed,” Rambabu alleged.
He further questioned whether governments should adapt existing cities as capitals or create new ones at enormous cost.