TDP hails High Court order on Amaravati

Amaravati, March 3:  Andhra Pradesh's main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Thursday hailed the High Court verdict on Amaravati as the state capital.

The TDP Politburo meeting, presided over by party President and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, discussed the High Court's latest verdict and described it as a big blow to the 3 capitals plan of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.

Briefing media about the decisions of the Politburo, former minister Kalva Srinivasulu said by directing the government to implement the CRDA Act, the court has upheld the merit and value of the Act passed by the previous government. It welcomed the court's decision to review the future progress of capital city works.

Srinivasulu said the Jagan Reddy regime has "destroyed the future of the whole state by going ahead with its ill-conceived Capital shifting plan in the past three years".

"As a result, over 136 institutions have stopped investing despite agreements reached with the previous TDP government led by Chandrababu Naidu," he said, adding that the state also lost Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 13,000 crore revenue from Amaravati.

The Politburo deplored how Rs 2 lakh crore worth assets and 10,000 acres government land in Amaravati Capital turned into non-performing assets. The court judgement once again made it clear that nobody would be able to shift Amaravati Capital. It was conceived and developed to meet the aspirations of Andhra Pradesh people and in accordance with the Reorganisation Act.

The TDP leaders hailed the latest CBI probe into the Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy's murder and slammed the CM and his family's media for trying to suppress real facts even now. From the beginning, all fingers were pointing towards YSRCP MP Avinash Reddy. But CM Jagan and his associates continued to weave new and false stories as part of a politically motivated and selfish agenda, it said.

The Politburo urged the CBI to hasten its investigation and arrest the real culprits as early as possible. The manner in which Jagan Reddy and his coterie tried to malign and implicate Chandrababu Naidu in the Vivekananda Reddy murder conspiracy was highly condemnable.

Majority TDP leaders wanted their party to boycott the Assembly as the ruling YSRCP was not allowing democratic debates and not listening to what the opposition had to say on any subject of public concern. Under the leadership of Jagan Reddy, the AP Assembly has been turned into a 'Kuru Sabha'. A final decision on attending the House would be taken at the TDLP meeting.

The TDP Politburo condemned the YSRCP regime for cancelling Anna Canteens and over 35 welfare schemes implemented by the Chandrababu Naidu led government.

Meanwhile, other opposition parties BJP, Jana Sena, CPI and CPI-M have welcomed the court verdict.

BJP leader and former Union Minister D. Purandareswari said BJP remained committed to development of Amaravati as the state capital.

She recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for Amaravati and the Centre also released Rs 2,500 crore for providing basic amenities in Amaravati region.

The BJP leader also listed out various road development projects cleared by the Centre to improve connectivity to Amaravati.