At a time when the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Andhra Pradesh unit, including their president Kanna Lakshminarayana have been opposing the shifting of administrative capital of the state from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, party’s national official spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member G V L Narasimha Rao has been speaking in a different tone.
Right from the beginning, GVL has been saying that the Centre had nothing to do with the decision on the location of the capital and there was no way the Central government would intervene in the three capitals formation issue.
“The location of capital city is purely a state subject and the Centre does not have any say in the same. At the most, it will give suggestions to the state government, if it is asked to do so. Otherwise, it is the state government’s prerogative to have the capital wherever it wants,” the BJP spokesperson said in the past.
He also made it clear that his statement was the final word on the party’s stand as he was the official spokesman of the national BJP; and whatever Kanna or others say, it was purely their personal opinion.
However, a couple of days ago when the BJP announced an alliance with Jana Sena Party of actor Pawan Kalyan, GVL reportedly had to face a snub.
When Kanna and other leaders were endorsing Pawan Kalyan’s stand on the capital issue, GVL intervened and said the BJP had nothing do with Amaravati issue.
Sources said Kanna snubbed GVL and asked him to keep silent. He said BJP would intensify the agitation along with Pawan Kalyan to retain the capital at Amaravati and the Centre would not keep quiet if unilateral decisions were taken.
The BJP spokesman had to beat a hasty retreat and did not raise the issue of Amaravati when he spoke to media later.