Amaravati:The protest in Amaravati over YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government's move to create three state capitals in Andhra Pradesh entered 200th day on Saturday with former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu stating that the Centre has the responsibility to save Amaravati.
Addressing a protest organized by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to mark the occasion, Naidu called upon people to continue 'Save Amaravati, Save Andhra Pradesh' movement.
Paying tributes to 64 farmers who died during Amaravati movement, the TDP chief alleged that Jaganmohan Reddy government hatched many conspiracies to kill new Andhra Pradesh's capital Amaravati, which would have brought investment to the state and jobs to its people.
"Was it our mistake to build a state capital which the whole world should admire," asked Naidu who wanted to build Amaravati as a world-class city.
The Singapore government had prepared the master plan for Amaravati, the foundation stone for which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2015.
Amaravati was planned to be developed on the banks of Krishna river at a cost more than Rs 1 lakh crore. The farmers had given 33,000 acres of land for development of the state capital under the land pooling scheme.
After Naidu's TDP lost power in the elections last year, Jaganmohan Reddy had announced a review of all projects launched during TDP rule. Alleging insider trading in development of Amaravati, the YSRCP government stopped all work in Amaravati and launched a probe.
It was in December last year that the Jagan government decided to develop three state capitals, shifting some capital functions from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. It announced that Amaravati will continue as the legislative capital while Visakhapatnam and Kurnool will be developed as executive and judicial capitals respectively.
Alleging that the move would harm their interests, Amaravati farmers have been staging protests against the government's decision. They are demanding that Amaravati be developed as the only state capital.