VIJAYAWADA: The ongoing controversy over Amaravati took another turn with Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana reiterating that insider trading took place in the capital city. “The government has all the details (of insider trading) and we will reveal them at an appropriate time,” he said.
Hours after Botcha’s statement, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who chaired a meeting of party leaders in Guntur, dismissed the allegations of corruption in Amaravati and announced to launch a fight along with all like-minded parties against ‘uncertainty’ created by the YSRC government on the capital city.
Speaking to mediapersons at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Monday, Botcha maintained that everyone knows that Amaravati will be inundated if Krishna river gets 10.9 lakh cusecs of floodwater as it happened 10 years ago. Without giving a straight reply to the question on whether the government will continue Amaravati as capital or not, he said, “I myself inspected the flood affected area in 2009 in the capacity of the District In-charge Minister.”
Asserting that the State government got all the evidence with regard to insider trading and irregularities committed in the name of capital Amaravati, he said they are ready to reveal the details as and when required.
Botcha also said the government is ready to furnish the details that a former Union minister and presently a BJP Rajya Sabha member has owned land in Amaravati capital region though he denied the reports.
“If the MP comes up with a challenge to prove the charge that he got land in the capital region, the government will furnish the details. Otherwise, we do not reveal the facts on our own at this juncture and we will disclose them at an appropriate time,” Botcha said.
“The government is accountable to 5 crore people of the State. It is for the development of all the 13 districts and it is not for the benefit of a single community. If there is any confusion among people on the capital city, we will clear all their doubts,” he asserted.
He also sought to know why the BJP and Jana Sena, which earlier echoed the voice of the YSRC and faulted the previous TDP government for irregularities in the construction of Amaravati, have changed their stand now. The statements given by Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan earlier and now need to be reviewed.
Once he announced to besiege the residence of the then Chief Minister Naidu on the issue of irregularities in the capital city. Now, he has come up with a different stance on Amaravati, he pointed out.
Refusing to comment on the statement of BJP Rajya Sabha MP TG Venkatesh that AP is going to have four capital cities and it was revealed by the Chief Minister to a senior BJP leader, Botcha said he should reveal the name of that leader.
Saying that farmers in the capital region are protesting for annuity, he informed that they also met him seeking the release of annuity. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has already directed the officials to release annuity to the farmers and the same will be paid within a week or 10 days, he said.
However, the opposition TDP took a strong exception to the manner in which the government is dealing with the capital city issue.
Observing that the government is delaying development on the pretext of ending corruption, TDP supremo Naidu underscored the need to launch an agitation against the confusion created by the government on Amaravati with the support of all like-minded parties.
He said a committee with the senior TDP leaders would be constituted to unite the like-minded parties on the issue. The TDP has also decided to release a book on ‘administrative failures’ of the 100-day YSRC government.
The BJP will visit the capital villages on Tuesday in support of the farmers. BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana, Rajya Sabha MP YS Chowdary and other leaders will take part in Amaravati tour. Saying that the statements of Botcha created confusion among farmers in the capital villages, Kanna said the government had not come up with any clarification on the issue.
Interacting with the farmers of capital region, who met him at his residence in Guntur on Monday, Kanna assured that the BJP would support their cause. Farmers in the capital region continued their protest on Monday demanding release of annuity.