Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s move to take over thousands of acres of additional land is worrying the people of Amaravati. Telugus are emotionally connected to the name Amaravati due to its historical significance, and it is widely accepted by the people as their capital. The people of residual AP voted for N. Chandrababu Naidu, considering his experience in ruling United AP, and that led him to decide to have a new capital, although Hyderabad was the joint capital for 10 years for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Initially, Chandrababu decided to rule from Hyderabad. At that time, he had declared that he would be in Hyderabad for 10 years till the end of Hyderabad’s status as the joint capital. A big political twist came when his recorded voice was released by the then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) in which Chandrababu was found trying to convince a TRS leader to vote for the TDP nominee in the Legislative Council elections. This created a flutter in Telangana politics, and Chandrababu had to move from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, the place initially proposed for constructing the new capital of residual AP. Chandrababu, who had assured people that he would be in the joint capital of Hyderabad for 10 years, had to leave for Vijayawada as he was warned by KCR that he would face ‘serious consequences’ if he continued in Hyderabad.
It can be said that Chandrababu can be considered the person who is responsible for the AP Government losing its right to continue in Hyderabad for 10 years till the new capital, Amaravati, was ready.
Earlier, in 1997, during his first stint as Chief Minister, he had floated a document named ‘Vision–2020’ for bringing about sustainable growth in United AP in the next 25 years. Ironically, the same Chandrababu had to pave the way for AP’s bifurcation by writing a letter to the Centre on behalf of his TDP in 2008. It was after that that the Telangana Movement gained momentum.
Although Chandrababu brought out the Vision-2020 document, he couldn’t stick to it and had to give a letter to GoI supporting AP’s bifurcation. If he were to stick to his document, he should have been able to remain in the same seat till the document period was over. Instead, he decided to write a consent letter to GoI okaying the bifurcation of United AP. Chandrababu decided to use the capital issue during the 2019 general elections. For that, he started examining various designs for the construction of Amaravati. Contrary to his expectations, the people of AP defeated him and voted in the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The TDP ended up with its lowest score of just 23 seats in the Assembly, although it managed to get the principal opposition tag.
Jagan went against CBN’s Amaravati plans by rejecting the idea of constructing the new capital in a region where the Kamma community’s hold is very high. Jagan didn’t hesitate to make use of caste to check the TDP’s moves. So he proposed to have three capitals like South Africa, and CBN’s idea of constructing a new capital came to a grinding halt.
Chandrababu resumed his moves to make Amaravati the capital after coming back to power in alliance with the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the BJP. The TDP shared power at the Centre too by making two of its MPs ministers. Now Chandrababu is trying to expand his Amaravati plans by acquiring thousands of acres more to meet future needs. The people of Amaravati are now tense wondering whether the CM is going for land pooling or land acquisition. If it is land acquisition, it would be clearly against the will of the people.
The move to construct an airport in Amaravati on thousands of acres has become a matter of great concern for the people. They are opposing the proposal for a new airport as the international airport at Gannavaram (Vijayawada) is just 40 km away. As per civil aviation norms, there should be a minimum distance of 150 km between two airports. For example, there is a proposal to construct an airport at Warangal in Telangana. But it faced opposition as the distance of the proposed Warangal airport from Hyderabad’s RGIA is less than what is prescribed between two airports.
The Telangana Government decided to hold talks with the Centre regarding this. The AP government can also try that, but many people think that it would serve no purpose. A former cabinet colleague of Chandrababu, V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, questioned the propriety of the Chief Minister constructing an airport at Amaravati, as it is just 40 km from the Gannavaram airport.
Chandrababu decided to invite Prime Minister Modi for resuming construction of the capital to draw public attention. Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone for works in the capital region, expected to cost Rs 1 lakh crore. Work will start the very next day after Modi’s visit.
But the same Modi had laid the foundation stone for the construction of Amaravati a decade ago and had even brought water and mud from New Delhi for the new capital. The same thing is going to take place again on May 2. The Amaravati idea will survive only if at least 75 per cent of its construction is completed before 2029. If it is not so by that time and if there is a change of guard after the next general elections, there would be uncertainty again.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had declared before the recent Assembly elections that Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital of AP if he retains power. Amaravati is alive today only because Jagan was defeated. Otherwise, it would have vanished from public minds.
Meanwhile, TDP cadres are praising Chandrababu as a visionary by citing Amaravati. Anyhow, Amaravati can survive only if at least 75 per cent of its work gets completed before Chandrababu’s current term is over.
