Foul-mouth YSRC party leader and Andhra Pradesh civil supplies minister Kodali Venkateshwar Rao alias Nani’s comment that even the state assembly would be shifted out of Amaravati has triggered a controversy in the political circles.
Nani told a media channel that he had represented to party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, requesting that there was no point in continuing Amaravati even as the legislative capital, since the local farmers were opposing distribution of lands to Dalits in Amaravati region.
“I told him to shift the state assembly also out of Amaravati. And the chief minister assured me to consider my suggestion favourably,” Nani told the channel.
His comments triggered an outrage among the Amaravati farmers in their social media groups. A farmer asserted that they had never opposed house site distribution for the poor, but only wanted that the scheme should not be implemented in the land meant for capital development.
“The previous government had constructed a weaker sections housing complex in Amaravati. If the government is so committed towards the poor, it should first distribute those houses for the poor,” he argued.
While a section of TDP leaders dismissed Nani’s suggestion as ridiculous and say Jagan would certainly not go by it, others think it to be the part of a larger conspiracy to shift even the entire capital city to Visakhapatnam.
“Not just legislative capital, even the judicial capital might be shifted to Visakhapatnam, so that it would be the only capital city of Andhra Pradesh. At the most, he might have a high court bench at Kurnool. If principal bench of the high court is also shifted to Visakhapatnam, there might not be much objection from the judges as well,” a TDP leader observed.
However, the Jagan would have to withdraw his three capitals bill and introduce a new legislation to make Visakhapatnam the only capital. Or he might go ahead with an administrative decision in this regard.
But the question is whether Jagan will do it based on Nani’s suggestions, unless he has his own plans. Let us wait and see.