VIJAYAWADA: Stating that they have faith in the Governor system, BJP leaders in Andhra Pradesh said that the two Bills were cleared as per the constitutional and legal provisions. However, they demanded the State government to honour all the promises made to the stakeholders as merely making Amaravati a Legislative Capital will not result in any development.
Addressing the media in New Delhi on Friday, MP GVL Narasimha Rao and State president Somu Veerraju said that their party was committed to their stand of Amaravati being retained as the capital. "We stand by our decision and demand the State government to ensure justice to the farmers, who had given their lands for the capital development. We also extend our support to their fight," Somu said.
GVL Narasimha Rao, who always clarified that the Centre will not intervene in the issue of the capital, cleared the air that the Governor has discharged duties as per the constitutional provisions. "The decision taken by the Governor was as per the legal and the constitutional provisions. We have faith in the Governor system. But, we demand that the concerns of the farmers have to be addressed since Amaravati will not see development just because it is the Legislative Capital," he said.
He recalled that the Centre in February, 2020, had clarified that it was for the States to decide on their capital.
To a query if the Centre’s consent would be needed for High Court relocation, GVL, who is also the national spokesperson of the BJP, said that the State may need to get the Supreme Court’s permission to move the High Court from Amaravati to Kurnool. He added that the presence of a High Court would not make a place a capital.
"The Centre has no say in it and it will go as per the State’s proposal. But, the SC’s permission would be needed most likely. The concept of judicial capital is just for the sake of statements. In Uttar Pradesh, the High Court is in Prayagraj (Allahabad), but it is not called the judicial capital. Same is the case with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which have the courts in Jodhpur and Jabalpur," he clarified.
The BJP leaders also said that they passed a political resolution in favour of Amaravati as the capital was announced after all parties agreed to it. "Everybody knew that former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu conceived Amaravati with vested interests, yet the Centre nor the BJP didn’t say anything as all the parties agreed to it, the farmers had given 33,000 acres of land, and the government invested money in it. To ensure that none of it goes futile, we are in favour of Amaravati," GVL Narasimha Rao remarked.
The Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi Joint Action Committee (JAC) came down heavily on the BJP alleging that it deceived them. The members of the JAC said, "It gave us false hopes and cheated us. What is the use of a political resolution if it does not help us in anyway? Can the two Bills be cleared without the Centre’s support?"
However, the BJP leaders clarified that political stand was different from Constitutional proceedings. “We had asked for the HC to be established in Kurnool, but the Centre said it was for the State to propose the location and all that we could do is fight politically. In a federal system, the Centre doesn’t interfere in States’ business. People should understand the difference, the Amaravati JAC stated