Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a video of angry farmers who gave away their lands to develop Amaravati as a the state capital.
The video shows kids chanting anti-government slogans in the regional language Telugu ‘State chief Down Down’ as protesting farmers burn tyres. Sporadic protests have been carried out by farmers since December.
The agitating farmers want Amaravati to be the only capital of the state. They have appealed to the Andhra Pradesh High Court to direct the state administration to resume construction work in the capital city stalled since June 2019 – a period when the new State government came to power in Andhra Pradesh.
The new government revoked the Chandrababu Naidu-led government’s initiative which had envisioned Amravati as the state capital.
Media reports say that farmers have given up nearly 33,000 acres of land for the capital project.
State chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has justified having three state capitals, claiming that it would prevent a concentration of power and resolve regional disparities.
This is not the first time that the Naidu has come out in support of the farmers’ movement. The former chief minister, along with his wife, took part in a similar farmers’ protest in Amaravati on January 1.
The row began in 2014, when the Telangana (29th state) was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. It was collectively decided that Hyderabad would be a capital for both the states until such time as Andhra decides on a new capital.