Notwithstanding the categorical assertion made by Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai making it clear on the floor of the Lok Sabha that the location of the capital city is the prerogative of the state government and that the Centre would not interfere in the matter, the Telugu Desam Party appears to be making a futile attempt to bring pressure on Delhi bosses.
TDP parliamentary party leader Galla Jayadev’s speech in Lok Sabha, which was carried as a banner story in Eenadu, shows how desperate the party is to retain Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh capital.
No doubt, Jayadev is an eloquent speaker; but in his attempt to criticize the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, he sought to run down the image of Andhra Pradesh, alleging that the investors were leaving the state and state’s economy was in shambles.
He made a strange comparison between national capital and the state capital, wondering whether it would be appropriate to set up Parliament in Hyderabad and Supreme Court in Tiruvananthapuram.
At the same time, farmers from Amaravati are meeting the big people in Delhi including vice president of India M Venkaiah Naidu and Union ministers one after the other for the last two days. But they have not got any positive response.
On the other hand, BJP national spokesman and MP G V L Narasimha Rao also clarified once again that the Centre would not interfere in the three capitals issue and if the Jagan government sends the proposals, the Centre would give its nod. It clearly shows that the Centre has no objection to the three capitals proposal.
Back home, Jagan too made it clear in no uncertain terms that Visakhapatnam would be the capital city for all practical purposes and within 10 years, it would become the best capital in the country, much better than Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
He explained that Vizag can be developed with 10 per cent of the expenditure required for Amaravati. Since there are no funds for developing Amaravati, his government had decided to develop Vizag for the sake of future generations.
Jagan’s assertion was promptly highlighted in Sakshi, while it was taken with a twist in Andhra Jyothy, quoting him as saying that there are no funds for Amaravati.
At the same time, Andhra Jyothy also carried GVL’s statement warning Jagan of facing serios consequences if he continued to demand special category status.
Meanwhile, the agitation of Amaravati farmers which entered 50th day on Wednesday was given big coverage in the pro-TDP media.
Both the dailies have given huge coverage to Chandrababu Naidu’s aggressive comments against Jagan and his challenge to the chief minister to come to Amaravati.
Among other news, Jagan’s explanation as to why his government had chosen to compulsorily introduce English as the medium of instruction was carried as a banner story in Sakshi.
However, his government’s affidavit in the state high court that exemptions would be given to linguistic minority schools from English medium and that there would be at least one Telugu medium schools in every mandal was highlighted in Eenadu – to give an impression that the Jagan government has taken a U-turn.
Eenadu and Sakshi also carried Jagan’s statement that there would be complete transparency in giving pensions to every eligible beneficiary and that there would be no discrimination in this regard. Andhra Jyothy ignored this report.