TIRUPATI: Former Union minister and Congress Working Committee (CWC) special invitee Chinta Mohan has urged the State government to develop Tirupati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Addressing a press conference at the Press Club here on Saturday, Mohan released a copy of the letter he wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh way back in 2013 urging him to make Tirupati the capital of AP post bifurcation.
“In 1953, NG Ranga proposed Tirupati as the capital. However, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy made Kurnool the capital,” Mohan said and added that around 1 lakh acres of government land is available between Yerpedu and Rapuru to develop a capital in Rayalaseema.
He urged the government to announce a chief ministerial candidate from Uttarandhra, which can change the fortunes of the backward region. Referring to Amaravati farmers’ padayatra, he said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi who is undertaking Bharat Jodo Yatra, would meet the agitating ryots during his yatra in AP.