YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is going cautiously with regard to formation of three capitals for the state and particularly on shifting of administrative capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam to avoid any legal complications.
But his cabinet colleagues continue to make controversial statements on the capital issue, thereby provoking the already agitated farmers protesting the capital shift.
On Monday, minister for mines and panchayat raj Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, who had earlier kicked up a storm by saying the government would return all the lands to the farmers of Amaravati, said only 200 acres of land was enough for constructing a capital.
He pointed out that the buildings in the Hyderabad capital where the Assembly, Secretariat and other office buildings located were built in less than 200 acres of land.
Reddy reiterated that the government would have the option to return the lands taken under the Land Pooling Scheme.
He said Telugu Desam Party chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had acquired lands under the LPS and there was a way to return them to the farmers.
“The government can make the laws and all the laws made by the government are legally tenable. The chief minister will not do any injustice to the farmers in the state,” he said, adding that based on the grievances of a small section of farmers, the TDP president has been diverting the entire farmers.
Reddy further observed that, development of Vizag would benefit the state in attracting investments into the state.
“Still we have been struggling for a city like Hyderabad, after the bifurcation of the state. At the same time, it is not wise to invest all the resources at one place. There is a need to focus on the development of various urban areas,” he said.
When asked whether the government would interact with the farmers who have been agitating for the capital, the minister said that so far there was no such proposal in the government.
“Even if the government tries to interact with the farmers, they are not in a mood to listen. Naidu has tuned their minds against the government,” he added.