VIJAYAWADA: There was no let-up in protests against the YSRC government’s plan on decentralisation of the capital, as the residents of villages in the Amaravati region continued to hold sit-ins and relay hunger strikes on Monday.Support for the protesters continued to pour in as former ministers Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao and Kamineni Srinivas visited Thullur and Mandadam and expressed solidarity with them.They questioned why Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was so hasty to shift the
capital when the previous government had spent thousands of crores on infrastructure and other facilities in Amaravati.
Addressing the ‘maha dharna’ at Thullur, Sobhanadreeswara Rao expressed his concern and assured the farmers that Amaravati would be the only capital of Andhra Pradesh. He criticised Jagan for resorting to ‘vindictive politics’ and jeopardising future of the farmers.
“How can they (the government) shift High Court without taking permission of the Supreme Court? The previous government had submitted ULCs to the Central government on the expenditure of `1,632 crore on the capital. The Centre won’t accept the reasons the YSRC has been citing to justify their move,” the senior leader observed.
Former health minister and BJP leader Kamineni Srinivas showed his support by taking part in a 24-hour hunger strike called by the farmers, and questioned the State government what would be the fate of the
buildings that were already built.
Stating that the Centre would react on the issue when the time is right, he added his party would never accept the ruling party’s proposal for relocating the Secretariat and the High Court from Amaravati. He assured the protesters that he would take up the issue with top BJP leaders soon.
“The BJP can stop the entire process. I still wonder how can the CM shift the capital to other places when some work has already been done here (Amaravati),” Srinivas sought to know. Meanwhile, women protesters staged a novel protest in Yerrabalem village by washing clothes on the road, expressing their dissent against the YSRC dispensation.
The new chairman of the Amaravati JAC, which is spearheading the protests against the proposal of the government to shift Secretariat to Visakhapatnam, is a senior political analyst and economist. He reportedly has connections with BJP leadership at the Centre. Union Home Minister Amit Shah greeted him on his birthday in January, and Shastri tweeted that he had got new year wishes from PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. N Chandrababu Naidu had greeted Shastri on being chosen as the Amaravati JAC chairman