At a time when Jana Sena Party president and power star Pawan Kalyan has been vehemently opposing the proposal of YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to create three capitals for the state, his elder brother and former Union minister megastar Chiranjeevi wholeheartedly welcomed the same.
In a statement on Saturday, Chiranjeevi said the all-round development of the state was possible only with the decentralized administration and power, as was suggested by the Sivaramakrishnan Committee and Sri Krishna Committee in their reports in the past and G N Rao committee in its latest recommendations.
“It is time everybody should welcome setting up of executive capital at Visakhapatnam, legislative capital at Amaravati and judicial capital at Kurnool. The committee recommendations are aimed at removing regional imbalances and helping the overall development of the state in all fields,” Chiranjeevi said.
He said after 1956, the entire development of Andhra Pradesh was concentrated only one place leading to regional disparities in social and economic fields.
“After the state bifurcation in 2014, the people had been left with empty hands. If we make the same mistake of concentrating development only in Amaravati, the future generations would not forgive us,” he said.
The megastar pointed out that Andhra Pradesh was already in caught in huge debt of over of Rs 3 lakh crore.
“If we spend another Rs 1 lakh crore on a single place like Amaravati, it will naturally create unrest among the people of north-coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema,” he said.
The three-capitals concept will give a lot of reassurance to the people of these two regions, who had been migrating to different places in search of livelihood all these days, that they would have a bright future.
Instead of spending Rs one lakh crore on Amaravati, it could be spent on three capitals so that the people of all the three regions do not get the feeling of neglect, he said.
However, Chiranjeevi said the government should take necessary steps to remove the feeling of injustice among the farmers of Amaravati who had given away their lands for the capital city. It should also take measures to allay the apprehensions and doubts of the people across the state.