IYR terms 3 capitals idea a big mistake

Vijayawada: Former chief secretary I Y R Krishna Rao described the three capitals concept 'a big mistake' and favoured Amaravati as the administrative capital. He said there is no need to shift capital to Visakhapatnam to development as the port city can be developed on par with Mumbai without making it the administrative capital.

Speaking to media persons at BJP office here on Friday, the former CS said that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy destroyed Amaravati capital by stopping developmental works in midway. He said the land bank in Visakhapatnam can be used for industrial development. Stating that creating regional differences is easy but controlling masses later is difficult. The government should take into consideration these issues. He said the BJP is committed to the development of the state.

The BJP leader said that former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had failed to take into consideration all the regions while deciding state capital, and accused him of causing more loss to farmers in the name of capital. Chandrababu started works in capital knowing full well that it was not possible to build a big capital at a time. He said real estate interests have also gained entry in Amaravati capital during 2014.

On the other hand, Jagan Mohan Reddy killed Amaravati capital by stopping works, he said, adding that there will be no problem if Visakhapatnam developed as a metro city . Stating that there was no development in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna Rao said that the works which were completed were initiated by Central government. He said that the state government is not able even to pay wages as per schedule.

He said that insisting that there was no financial crisis in AP is nothing but deceiving people. While state's debts stand at Rs 1 lakh crore at the time of bifurcation, they increased to Rs 2 lakh crore during Chandrbabu Naidu government and now in Jagan Mohan Reddy rule, the debts rose to Rs 6 lakh crore.

He stated that he had never mentioned in his book that Amaravati should be removed as administrative capital. He said that he wrote that development of a big city is not possible in short period. The BJP wants development of all the regions, he added.