Amaravati farmers’ padayatra led by capitalists to benefit TDP, Chandrababu Naidu: Jagan

Participating in a short discussion on decentralisation and administrative reforms on the opening day of the Assembly session on Thursday, the chief minister lambasted the Opposition and its allies for the sloganeering on the capital city.

He said that with a little boost, Visakhapatnam — one of the three capitals proposed by the YSRCP government — would be the natural capital with an investment of ₹10,000 crore, which was less than 10 percent of the estimate of the previous government to build the perceived capital city.

“I am not against this region. Two more capitals will be added to the present Amaravati, and I never said that this should be taken away. People have acknowledged the view with a landslide in the polls held after the 2019 general elections,” he said.

Affirming that decentralisation was the only way for all-round development, Jagan said he treats all regions equally, and that Visakhapatnam could be the natural choice as it is the biggest city in the state with readymade infrastructure and dubbed the Opposition hue and cry sloganeering as a sham and sheer opportunism.

“For the 53,000 acres of land, Chandrababu Naidu has estimated an expenditure of ₹1.10 lakh crore for basic infrastructure, and all that he could spend was just ₹5,500 crore. That is the amount any government can spend. The previous government kept ₹2,297 core as pending for us to clear,” he said.

Taking a dig at the ongoing agitation, he said it was not for the development of SCs, STs, BCs, or minorities, but to safeguard the interests of the wealthy class.

“There is not much of a difference between the state budget of the previous government and ours. So why didn’t the previous government take up programmes like Amma Vodi, YSR Asara, Cheyutha, and Rythu Bharosa, and give ₹1.65 lakh crore DBT under various schemes, and how could it be possible for us?” he asked, claiming that it was a matter of commitment and priority.

“While the welfare of weaker sections is our priority, the welfare of only a section of society was the priority of Chandrababu Naidu. The state in our view is the entire stretch of 1.62 lakh sq km radius, and not just the 8 km radius where there has been an agitation of late,” the chief minister said.

He also said that ‘Gang of Four’ has been spreading false notions and wanted to concentrate development in one region only besides writing and showing highly biased and opinionated stories.

“I have been telling about the decentralization time and again. From setting up of village and ward secretariats to doubling the districts to 26 we have shown what decentralization could be and it has been doing wonders and during the calamities, the welfare delivery mechanism has been working well and effectively”,  he said.

Earlier, participating in a short discussion, Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy said Rayalaseema got a raw deal, and extolled Jagan’s vision of decentralisation.

“Kurnool and Visakhapatam were cited as capitals on previous occasions, with recorded documentation, and decentralisation was taken up in a bid to evade concentration of development in a single area, which is the Hyderabad example,” he said.

Former minister and Gudivada MLA Kodali  Sri Venkateswara Rao said Jagan’s decentralisation policy was acknowledged by all regions in the subsequent elections to local bodies, the Assembly and the Lok Sabha after 2019, and the TDP had been raking up a non-issue through the Amaravati agitation.

Ruckus in Assembly

Earlier in the day, the monsoon session of the state legislature opened on a stormy note, with members of the treasury and Opposition benches engaging in a verbal duel over several issues.

Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram adjourned the House once to bring order.

Later in the day, after repeated requests to both benches to sit in their places during the short discussion on decentralisation, he suspended 16 TDP MLAs from the House for a day.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath moved the motion to suspend the 16 TDP MLAs which was accepted by the Speaker.