Terming capital region farmers pada yatra as invasion is factionism, says Somireddy
The former minister and senior TDP leader, Mr Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, feels that only those having a factionist mindset can call the peaceful pada yatra of the capital region farmers as invasion.
Talking to media persons at the party headquarters here, Mr Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said that the farmers from Amaravathi are not carrying any weapons like firearms or swords. “It is not correct to cause inconvenience to the Amaravati farmers who are undertaking pada yatra in a peaceful manner,” he added.
The former minister is of the strong opinion that the three-capital formula is a failure concept even in foreign countries like South Africa and it is only out of ignorance that the ruling party is still pursuing this idea. “It is not a fact that only capital cities will witness development. For instance, the Americal capital of Washington DC remained only as a city but the metros like Chicago and New York are progressing well,” he felt.
Similarly, though London is the capital of the United Kingdom, the city of Manchester witnessed industrial revolution, he said and added that how the ruling party in the State can think of a three-capital formula when the very idea is a failure across the globe. Also, Legislative capital theory is also wrong as the Maharashtra Government is incurring huge losses by conducting a single Assembly session in Nagpur. The Maharashtra Government has almost come to a conclusion not to hold the Assembly session in Nagpur any longer.
lmost all the parties in the State, including the BJP, the Congress, the Jana Sena and the Left parties have been demanding that Amaravathi be continued as the capital. “Even the YSRCP has earlier made it clear on the Floor of the Assembly that Amaravathi be the capital of Andhra Pradesh,” he recalled.
Mr Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy expressed doubts as to who will come forward to invest in Andhra Pradesh if there is no single capital for the State. Even in the combined Andhra Pradesh, cities like Warangal, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam have developed a lot though Hyderabad was the capital city and hence it is wrong to say that other cities will not progress well other than the capital city, he pointed out.
“Every city needs to have certain qualities for development. Since Visakhapatnam has a port, several industries like Hindustan Shipyard, Hindustan Zinc, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and other industries are being successfully operated,” he stated.
Mr Somireddy said that when the late YS Rajsekhara Reddy was the chief minister he and the minister in his cabinet, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana, tried to get the Vokes Vegon company to Visakhapatnam and they paid even Rs 11 cr as bribe. Mr Botsa Satyanarayana had to even submit his resignation when it was proved, he recalled.
Mr Chandrababu Naidu, as the chief minister of the State made every effort to get major institutes like All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and SRM University and VIT to Amaravathi, which are still functioning. Besides, he also allotted lands for 125 national educational institutions and some of them have begun construction of their buildings too, he noted.
Since Amaravathi is in the middle of Andhra Pradesh which is equi-distance from all parts of the State it should be developed as the capital and proper planning needs to be done to further develop the city, the former minister felt and maintained that it is not correct to create troubles to the farmers who are peacefully undertaking their pada yatra.
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