Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu has termed as 'Tughlaq act', the announcement of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy that the state may have three capitals.
Reacting sharply to Reddy's announcement made in the State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, the former chief minister said the move would make the governance difficult and create a divide among people on regional lines.
Reddy told the Assembly that while the legislative capital may continue to function from Amaravati, the coastal city of Visakhapatnam may be made the executive capital and Kurnool may be developed as the judicial capital.
"It is a Tughlaq act. Perhaps Tughlaq's rule was better," said Naidu, who alleged that his party MLAs were suspended from Assembly to make the announcement.
The leader of opposition also wondered where the chief minister would stay. "Will he build another house in Visakhapatnam," he asked.
Naidu said Jagan Mohan Reddy destroyed Amaravati which was expected to become Rs 2 lakh crore asset for the state.
Amaravati was the brainchild of Naidu, who had roped in Singapore government to make design for the new state capital.
However, after YSR Congress Party came to power in May, it decided to have a re-look, citing the alleged irregularities committed by previous government in acquisition of lands and awarding the contracts to various companies.
It recently formed a panel of five experts to look into the issue of state capital after taking the views of people of all regions into consideration.
The TDP chief criticized Jagan Mohan Reddy for making the announcement even before the panel submitting its report.