Andhra CM Naidu criticises Jagan on Amaravati project

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu criticised Jagan Mohan Reddy for alleging corruption in Amaravati works. Naidu defended the project’s progress and rejected the MAVIGUN proposal, calling it impractical, while asserting Amaravati as the state’s sole capital

Yadiki (Andhra Pradesh): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday accused YSRCP supremo Jagan Mohan Reddy of levelling corruption allegations at a time when work on the greenfield capital Amaravati is “progressing well” and the state is witnessing development.

The former chief minister had recently alleged that “massive corruption” was taking place under the pretext of building the capital city, claiming that construction costs were as high as nearly Rs 15,000 per sq ft.

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“At a time when Amaravati works are progressing well and development is taking place, he (Jagan) is alleging corruption out of frustration and an inability to accept it,” Naidu said while addressing a public meeting at Yadiki village in Anantapur district.

Branding Jagan’s brainchild MAVIGUN, a proposal to declare Machilipatnam, Vijayawada and Guntur as a capital corridor, as “crazy”, Naidu alleged that the opposition leader was unwilling even to utter the word Amaravati.

“I do not understand this craze. It has only intensified,” he said, ridiculing the MAVIGUN proposal.

On April 1, Jagan had advised Naidu to designate the MAVIGUN region as the capital area or corridor of Andhra Pradesh, calling the Rs 2 lakh crore Amaravati project “impractical”.

The YSRCP chief argued that MAVIGUN would require only a tenth of the Rs 2 lakh crore being spent on building the greenfield capital city from scratch.

According to him, the distance between Machilipatnam and Vijayawada is 75 km, and between Vijayawada and Guntur is 40 km, a stretch of about 110 km that is already well connected by a National Highway, unlike Amaravati.

Naidu said Jagan was invoking MAVIGUN while avoiding even mentioning Amaravati, which he called the ‘capital of goddesses’, adding that uttering its name would bring ‘blessings’.

Referring to Parliament recently passing the Amaravati Bill recognising the city as the state capital, Naidu said Andhra Pradesh earlier had no clear capital but can now proudly call Amaravati its capital.

Till recently, there was ‘mudu mukkala ata’ (three-card monte), he said, referring to the previous government’s capital trifurcation plan, and added that Amaravati is now the people’s capital.

“Andhra has only one capital, and that is Amaravati,” he asserted.

He further noted that all political parties, except the YSRCP, supported Amaravati in Parliament.

“The whole country stood with us. All political parties supported us. Out of 50 parties represented in Parliament, 49 supported us. Only one party opposed. Which party is that?” he said, alluding to the YSRCP.

He also alleged that the YSRCP’s opposition to Amaravati amounted to “betraying the state”.