Telugu Desam Party president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu strongly objected to the allegations made by current Jaganmohan Reddy government regarding the lack of development work done by the previous regime in Amaravati. Naidu asserted that over Rs 41,675 crore worth projects were grounded for developing the government and public infrastructure in Amaravati and 45 to 80 per cent of the work was completed in many buildings. The former CM alleged that Jagan Reddy and his Ministers’ claim of TDP only showing graphics was false and misleading.
Addressing his fifth in a series of press conferences since AP governor approved the 3 Capitals bill, Naidu refuted the allegation that the TDP made the Capital selection unilaterally. The decision was taken only based many strong parameters including the fact that more than 50 per cent people told the Sivaramakrishnan Committee that they would favour location of Capital in Amaravati region between Vijayawada and Guntur. Over 4,700 people expressed this opinion while only 507 people preferred Visakhapatnam, 360 persons Kurnool and 265 for Ongole.
He pointed out how Amaravati was located equidistant to the farthest tips of the state. About 2.3 crore out of the total 5.5 crore are living on one side of Amaravati while another 2.15 crore were living on the other side. Similarly, 12 MPs are from one side of Amaravati and another 12 MPs from the opposite side. About 84 MLAs are on one side and 74 MLAs are on the other side. The distance from Amaravati to the farthest ends on either side is 600 km. The TDP chief also asserted that AP needed a huge capital city to get the kind of development and prosperity that was being witnessed in the neighbouring states.
For example, Kolkata was contributing 76 per cent revenue to West Bengal, Hyderabad 60 per cent to Telangana, Mumbai 57 per cent to Maharashtra, Bhubaneswar 56 per cent to Orissa and Chennai 39 per cent to Tamil Nadu. Similarly, Amaravati was visualised as a model city with potential to create its own revenue for the entire State.
Stating that a dream capital was the need of the hour, Naidu said that if he had built a small town for AP Capital nearby Vijayawada or Guntur city, there would not have been any scope for future growth on the lines of metropolitan cities in other progressive states. Hae asserted that CM was not realising the need for bringing in development in a systematic way. The only path taken by the CM was to destroy the entire state by going ahead with multiple capitals. Naidu pointed out that even a small project like ‘HappyNest’ in Amaravati sold out 1,200 plots and brought Rs 150 crore revenue for the state during the TDP regime. The land bank available with the Government in Amaravati would bring a revenue of Rs 90 lakh crore to Rs 1 lakh crore. Once fully developed, Amaravati city would emerge into such a vibrant city where the Government would have its wealth to the tune of Rs 2 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore. If the Amaravati buildings were left incomplete, it would amount to criminal waste of hundreds of crores of funds already spent on the basic infrastructure. Presently, the Secretariat, Assembly, Council and the High Court were functioning in interim complexes.