Decentralisation of administration won't ensure development: Ex-Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu

He advised the YSR Congress government to persist with Amaravati as the seat of administration instead of developing an already-developed city (Visakhapatnam).
Screengrab of former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu during assembly session on capital issue in Velagapudi on Monday. (Photo| EPS)
Screengrab of former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu during assembly session on capital issue in Velagapudi on Monday. (Photo| EPS)

VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating his party’s stance of ‘one State - one capital’, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu appealed to the government to desist from going ahead with the three-capital plan.

"Though Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is younger than me, I request him with folded hands to reconsider. Don’t act in haste. Three capitals have not been successful anywhere in the world," he implored.

Participating in the discussion on the Decentralisation of Governance Bill in the Assembly on Monday, Naidu explained the developments which led to his government embarking on Amaravati as the capital city and countered allegations levelled by the treasury benches.

Confining himself to the capital issue without getting drawn into verbal duels, Naidu said there is a provision in the AP Reorganisation Act that the residuary State shall have 'a' capital and not capitals and that the capital must be finalised in consultation with the Central government. Claiming that YS Rajasekhara Reddy took forward projects mooted by him in Hyderabad, the former chief minister advised YSR's heir to follow in his father's footsteps.

Asserting that his government selected Amaravati in the interests of future generations, he cautioned that the government, with its numerical advantage, can pass the Bill, but should not forget that AP Reorganisation Act doesn’t mention multiple capitals. Naidu’s speech was evidently prepared to refute the government’s argument, which is based to an extent on the Sivaramakrishnan Committee report.

Naidu arrested, released

Chandrababu Naidu and his party MLAs were taken into preventive custody late on Monday night when they tried to take out a padayatra from the Assembly to Mandadam village. They were later released

'Hyderabad witnessing realty boom due to government decision'

He said that the Sivaramakrishnan Committee, appointed by the Centre in 2014 to suggest alternatives for a capital for AP, opined that capital between Vijayawada and Guntur region will be apt considering the region’s higher ranking on the suitability index.

Naidu also pointed at the public responses received by the panel. "Forty-six per cent preferred Vijayawada-Guntur region while only 10 per cent favoured Visakhapatnam. The Finance Minister’s claims that only 1,500 responses were received on phone are incorrect. Responses were received via email and other ways," Naidu said.

Dismissing the claim that Amaravati is prone to floods, he recalled that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had refused to describe the area as flood-affected since it was not affected even during the unprecedented Krishna floods in 1853 and 2009.

"Jagan is the 17th Chief Minister of AP. There are no instances of a CM of any State changing the capital except Jagan. There will be no end to it if the capital is changed every time a new chief minister is appointed," he observed.

Taunting that Hyderabad is witnessing a realty boom after Amaravati is stalled as investments and institutions are going away from here, he reminded the House of Telangana Minister Harish Rao’s observation that three capitals in Andhra Pradesh would benefit Telangana. On arguments that centrality isn’t the criterion for location of capitals, he said Delhi was centrally located before India’s partition.

He advised the government to persist with Amaravati as the seat of administration instead of developing an already-developed city (Vizag). He reiterated that Amaravati is a self-financing project and felt if the projects planned by the TDP government were completed, there would be 10,000 acres of land bank with the government.

Recalling the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while laying foundation stone to capital city, Naidu said the Prime Minister had expected Amaravati to emerge as a model for the development of new cities in the country.

Similarly, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who also attended the Amaravati foundation-laying ceremony, stated that capital city was not intended only for administration but also become a centre for creation of wealth, employment and hoped AP capital would be such a centre, Naidu said.

Reiterating that he cared more for Visakhapatnam and planned to develop the Port City, Tirupati and other cities simultaneously along with Amaravati, Naidu said Vizag would have emerged as a better city if the present government had continued the projects that took shape during the TDP regime.

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