Protests against 3-capital proposal enter 30th day in Andhra Pradesh

The ongoing protest against the Andhra Pradesh government's three-capital proposal on Thursday entered the 30th day.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Jayadev Galla, CPI national secretary K Narayana, and leaders from other political parties visited the protesters and expressed solidarity to the movement.

Speaking to ANI, Galla said, "The protest is not going to stop. Whether its 30 days or 30 months, we are prepared to continue this protest. What is being done is unfair and unscientific, not only for the farmers of this region but for the entire state. The three capital idea is only going to increase the cost."

"Everything is available today in Amaravati to run the government. Rs 9,000 crore has already been spent in Amaravati. The three capital idea is going to be three times the cost and one third the efficiency. The future generation will have to live with the economic burden," he added.

Stressing that the people of Andhra Pradesh don't support the three capital proposal, the TDP leader said, "The efforts our farmers are putting today and the type of difficulties that they are being subjected to are being watched by everyone in the state. The movement is spreading beyond these 29 villages in the state. The people in other villages also say that they don't want Vizag as their capital. The government will have to come to its knees and make a change in their attitude."

"Supreme Court had earlier said that section 144 should not be used to suppress the democratic rights of the protestors and I think the High Court is taking cognisance of it. We are expecting a verdict in favour of the protestors from the Andhra Pradesh High Court," Galla said.

He added, "We want Section 144 and section 30 to be removed and the right to protest should be given back to the people. Apart from that, all the cases that have been filed using these sections against the poor farmers and women should be withdrawn."

Meanwhile, Narayana said that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has no right to change the capital unless people support it.

"Jagan Mohan Reddy has no right to change the capital. If he wants to do so, he should resign and go for a fresh mandate. We will take up the agitation to a national level," the CPI leader said.

Narayana also lashed out at the Chief Minister for imposing Section 144 for a long time in the state.

The GN Rao Committee, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh government to look into the suggestion of three capitals had earlier made a favourable recommendation saying the move will help in decentralise development and put the available resources to the best use.

It proposed Visakhapatnam as the executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital while retaining Amaravati as the legislative capital.