Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday strongly objected to the continuing 'misinformation campaign' by the ruling Jagan Mohan Reddy government that the previous TDP regime had not brought any development but only showed 'graphics' to the people on state capital Amaravati.
Chandrababu Naidu asserted that over Rs 41,675 crores-worth projects were grounded for developing the government and public infrastructure in Amaravati and 45 to 80 per cent works were completed on different buildings already.
"CM Jagan and his ministers were making false claims of 'graphics' only to destroy the high potential, dream capital of Andhra Pradesh out of political vendetta," Naidu said.
Addressing his fifth in a series of press conferences since Andhra Pradesh Governor approved three Capitals Bill, Naidu refuted the allegation that the TDP made the capital selection unilaterally.
"The decision was taken only based on many strong parameters including the fact that more than 50 per cent people told the Sivaramakrishnan Committee that they would favour location of capital 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 added.
The TDP chief appealed to the people to think whether the capital selection was a sane decision or not going by how Amaravati was located equidistant to the farthest tips of the state. The distance from Amaravati to the farthest ends on either side is 600 km.
Naidu asserted that Andhra Pradesh needed a huge capital city to get the kind of development and prosperity that was being witnessed in the neighbouring states.
"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 lots of potential to create its own revenue generation for the entire state," the TDP chief said.
Stating that a dream capital was the need of the hour, Naidu said that if he had built a small town for Andhra Pradesh capital nearby Vijayawada or Guntur, there would not have been any scope for future growth on the lines of metropolitan cities in other progressive states.
"CM Jagan 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," he charged.
Naidu asserted that a small project like 'HappyNest' in Amaravati sold out 1,200 plots bringing Rs 150 Crore revenue for the state during the TDP regime.
"The land bank available with the government in Amaravati would bring revenue of Rs 90,000 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," he added.
The TDP chief said that the only way to stop this destruction by the YSRCP was for the people to create awareness and intensify the agitation to save a potential, dream city like Amaravati.
( With inputs from ANI )