Amaravati, April 1 (PTI) YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, dismissing the recent assembly resolution on Amaravati as a drama to mask the “large-scale corruption” in the greenfield capital city.

His remarks come in the wake of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly recently passing a resolution requesting the Centre to accord legal status to Amaravati as the sole capital of the southern state.

Addressing a press conference at YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, he said, “Under the guise of wealth creation and vision, he (Naidu) gives several names and stages drama… He gives new names and diverts topics… Last week’s Assembly resolution (on Amaravati) is a latest act in that drama.” The former CM argued that there is no concept of a capital for a state in the Constitution, and that capital exists only for the country as a whole, while states have seats of governance.

“There is no concept of a capital for states. It is only for the country. States have seats of governance. Nobody should forget this.” According to Reddy, the Centre has already noted that it was the state’s wish to choose its capital and even filed a counter-affidavit in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Recalling the creation of three new states – Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh – back in 2001, he questioned the role of the Centre in determining their capital cities.

“How did they get the capitals? Did the Centre decide? Those states decided. So why does it apply to us (Andhra Pradesh) when it did not apply to anyone? Why this drama?” asked Reddy.

Alleging that Naidu is “diverting” people’s attention from his government’s alleged corruption, he opined that there was no need for an assembly resolution.

Naidu’s leadership is a “misfortune” for the state, he added.

Seeking to know why the Legislative Council was not convened for passing the resolution on Amaravati, the opposition party leader said it would have exposed Naidu’s alleged corruption.

Dismissing Naidu’s assertion that the capital law is now unchangeable, he claimed that legislative bodies have the power to enact laws and they can also amend them, including the Constitution.

Defending his previous ‘Three Capitals’ policy, he clarified that he was never against any region of the state.

“I never stripped Amaravati of its capital status and retained it as the legislative capital as part of the capital trifurcation plan during the previous YSRCP government between 2019 and 2024.” Reddy also proposed a ‘MAVIGUN’ corridor comprising Machilipatnam, Vijayawada and Guntur regions as an alternative to the “impractical” Rs 2 lakh crore Amaravati project.

Dismissing Reddy’s proposal, the ruling TDP said, “He (Jagan Mohan Reddy) is consistently inconsistent.” The former CM said MAVIGUN could be a practical ‘Plan B’ at just 10 percent cost of Naidu’s ‘dream project’ of Amaravati.

Jagan pitched MAVIGUN as a viable growth engine for the southern state, following the TDP-led government decision to rescind the previous YSRCP regime’s capital trifurcation policy.

“Okay, you (NDA govt) did not like our practical idea (trifurcation). Did you think about the Plan B we gave a few months ago? Take MA from Machilipatnam, VI from Vijayawada and GUN from Guntur to christen it as MAVIGUN, and declare an excellent 110 km (length) as the capital area corridor,” he said.

According to the opposition leader, the distance between Machilipatnam and Vijayawada is 75 km and Vijayawada and Guntur is 40 km, a distance of about 110 km, which is well connected with an already existing National Highway (NH), unlike the greenfield city of Amaravati.

It also boasts of a population of nearly 40 lakh people, and established infrastructure, he said while suggesting minimal expenditure on existing highways.

The YSRCP leader alleged that the TDP-led government was not interested in the MAVIGUN proposal because the existing infrastructure leaves little room for “corruption”.

For a capital which required Rs 2 lakh crore for basic infrastructure, Reddy claimed that Naidu has spent only around Rs 8,000 crore in seven years as CM, wondering how many decades it would take to fulfil the 76-year-old TDP supremo’s ‘dream project’. PTI STH ROH