Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for his house in the state capital, Amaravati, on Wednesday, April 10.
He and his family performed the Bhoomi Puja, which included elaborate religious rituals performed by priests and the chanting of Vedic hymns.
The Chief Minister’s wife Nara Bhuvaneswari, his son and state Minister Nara Lokesh, Lokesh’s wife Brahmani, and their son Devansh attended the ceremony held behind the State Secretariat at Velagapudi.
Naidu had acquired a 5-acre residential plot in the Velagapudi revenue area from a local farmer's family last year. Recently, the plot registration process was completed.
The residence is coming up next to E9 Road in the core area of the capital. The ground plus one house will be spread over 1,455 square yards.
The Chief Minister plans to complete the work and move in within a year. Following the groundbreaking ceremony, representatives from the construction company shared plans for the house.
The plans reportedly include a mini conference hall and servant quarters. A large portion of the land is proposed to be developed into a garden. Adequate parking space will be earmarked.
Naidu purchased the house site after criticism from his political opponents that he had not built his own house in Amaravati despite his ambitious plans to develop it as a world-class city.
The YSR Congress Party had been taunting Naidu for not building his own house in Amaravati, though YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had constructed his own house in Tadepalli, close to the Amaravati region.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President had been living in a rented house at Karakatta road on the banks of Krishna River ever since the administrative capital was shifted from Hyderabad in 2015.
After leading the TDP-led NDA to power last year, the Chief Minister revived his plans to build Amaravati as the only state capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Amaravati later this month to re-launch capital development works.
The PM laid the foundation for Amaravati in 2015 when the TDP was in power. After YSRCP came to power in 2019, it decided to develop three state capitals. The Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government wanted to develop Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital, Kurnool as the judicial capital, and Amaravati as the legislative capital.
However, the plans could not take off due to legal problems and stiff opposition from farmers and landowners of Amaravati who had given their lands for the development of the capital city.
Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to build his own house in the Amaravati core area is seen as an attempt to create confidence among prospective investors in the capital city.