Actor-politician and Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan on Monday opposed the Andhra Pradesh government's proposal to decentralise the capital, and said that it must remain in Amaravati.
Pointing out that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had supported the Amaravati proposal when he was the Leader of the Opposition, Pawan Kalyan accused him of indulging in a ‘divide and rule policy’.
Speaking to reporters at the JSP office in Mangalagiri in Amaravati, Pawan Kalyan said that his party would stand by the farmers who sacrificed their fertile land for Amaravati. The farmers gave their land to the Andhra Pradesh government and not to any political party, he noted.
Pawan said that Jagan was "confusing and worrying the farmers of Amaravati" and asked the CM to clarify whether he was the representative of the state or a particular region.
Meanwhile, the Rajadhani Rythu Parirakshana Samithi (Amaravati farmers protection committee) approached the High Court against the state government's proposed move. The court will hear the case in January 2020.
Earlier this month, an expert committee headed by GN Rao, which was constituted by the YSRCP government to decide the state capital, had recommended three capitals for the state — a legislative one in Amaravati, an executive one in Visakhapatnam and a judicial capital in Kurnool.
The proposal has sparked off protests across Amaravati, especially among farmers who had given up their land in the promise of getting developed plots in the capital.
Earlier this year, all the construction work in the capital, envisaged as a world-class city by former Chief Minister and TDP President Chandrababu Naidu, came to a halt with Jagan deciding to review them.
The YSRCP has also alleged that Naidu and those close to him resorted to insider trading in Amaravati by buying land at cheap rates before announcing the state capital officially.