YSRCP dismisses stir in Amaravati as 'hype'

Amaravati: The agitation for retaining Amaravati as the sole capital is nothing but a hype created by opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu and vested interests who fear that their real estate business would be lost, alleged YSRCP Sattenapalli MLA Ambati Rambabu.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, Rambabu said there was no agitation at Amaravati but Naidu was fooling people by claiming in Zoom app sitting in Hyderabad that some 85 people had died in the agitation and that farmers would be losers if Amaravati was not retained as the sole capital of the state. "People in Amaravati know who the agitators are as they are real estate owners backed by Naidu and supported by their favoured media houses," he said.

There is no agitation in Amaravati as such, he said and added that it was a vicious campaign started by the TDP chief to help his supporters get a good price for their land which was jacked up due to the hype created by him which was a big scam. Naidu and his benamis had bought hundreds of acre land here and were expecting a windfall through it. Assigned lands belonging to the Dalits were snatched by Naidu and his benamis which were given for land pooling, he said.

An inquiry is being conducted into the whole episode and the accused would be brought to book soon, the YSRCP leader said and added that all the accused in the scam were now agitating for Amaravati just to get away from being arrested.

In this connection, Rambabu said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was bent upon decentralisation of administration as we had seen what had happened with Hyderabad being the sole capital previously. The people of Andhra Pradesh lost everything after bifurcation.

He also lashed out at the CPI for supporting Chandrababu Naidu on the Amaravati issue and said the communists were siding with capitalist who was opposing distribution of land sites to Dalits and other weaker sections.

With reference to the fire mishap at Swarna Palace Hotel in Vijayawada where Ramesh Hospitals was conducting a Covid-19 camp, he asked why Naidu was supporting Dr Ramesh who went into hiding out of fear of arrest.

Party MLC Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad said it was unfortunate that CPI leader K Narayana was backing the agitation for Amaravati as the sole capital as it was an agitation by the capitalists. He said it was not a Dalit agitation at all and only by capitalists backed by Naidu and his benamis. He said it would be in the fitness of things that Narayana withdraws from the agitation as it was against the principles he stood for.