Andhra Pradesh is the only State without a capital, even after ten years of its formation, says Chandrababu Naidu

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu giving a motion of thanks to the Governor’s speech, in the Assembly.

Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu observed that even after completing a decade since bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, people of the State do not have a capital city.

While addressing the Assembly on Tuesday during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s speech, Mr. Naidu said that former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s misrule and policy reversal caused irreparable damage to the State.

At the same time, Mr. Naidu said that with the support of all the Ministers and MLAs and people, Andhra Pradesh could be developed as the leading State in the country. He alleged that not just Amaravati, but the Polavaram irrigation project was also neglected in the last five years, adding that the former Chief Minister had intentionally changed the contractors, delaying construction.

Mr. Naidu thanked the Central government for extending support to both Polavaram and Amaravati projects in the Union Budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He said that the irrigation system was in tatters due to non-maintenance of the projects in the State.  

“Thanks to the State-sponsored revenge politics by Mr. Jagan, investments dwindled in the last five years,” the Chief Minister alleged. He lamented that the crime rate had shot up during the regime of YSRCP, and said the YSRCP president was away in Delhi on the pretext of staging a protest as he was “scared of coming to the Assembly”.

Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan said that Governor Syed Abdul Nazeer’s address to the joint session of the Legislature provided a roadmap to the State government for the development and welfare of Andhra Pradesh. He said Mr. Naidu’s efforts to build Amaravati capital city between 2014 and 2019 and develop the State will now get further impetus.  

He said that the NDA government had inherited “hereditary challenges” due to bad governance of the YSRCP, and alleged that the last five years had witnessed unbridled corruption, illegal mining of natural resources, land grabbing and political vendetta. The Deputy Chief Minister said that he would ensure that he does his best under the able guidance of Mr. Naidu.

“I will be liable for any mistake that I make as long as I hold this responsibility. This House should hold every leader accountable if they commit any wrongs,” he said.

BJP MLA Sujana Chowdary and others also participated in the debate.