After maintaining a neutral stand for a long time, the Andhra Pradesh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has finally announced its wholehearted support to the agitation by Amaravati farmers for the retention of the capital city there.
State BJP president Somu Veerraju recently toured parts of Amaravati and declared that his party was strongly opposed to the three capitals plan and it would fight for retention of Amaravati as the state capital.
On Thursday, when the farmers of Amaravati held massive protest rally and public meeting at Rayapudi to mark the completion of one year of their agitation, the state BJP pledged its support to their movement once again.
BJP official representative Vamaraju Satyamurthy, who attended the public meeting on behalf of the party, declared that his party would fight till the end against the three capitals plan and see that the capital continued at Amaravati.
He made a scathing attack on YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for going back on the pre-election assurance of continuing Amaravati as the capital city.
But what is surprising is that former president of Andhra BJP Kanna Lakshminarayana, who used to take active part in pro-Amaravati agitation, is nowhere to be seen now.
Let alone participating in the agitations, Kanna has not issued any statement till now, though the agitation has completed one year.
State Mahila Congress president Sunkara Padmasri, who had met all party leaders in New Delhi including the BJP leaders, alleged that Kanna was made a scapegoat in the process.
“He was sacked as the state BJP chief only because he strongly supported location of capital at Amaravati. But now, the BJP is shedding crocodile tears for farmers,” she criticised.
It appears Kanna has been sulking since he has been sacked from the post unceremoniously. That is why he has not come out in the open though the party changed its stand on Amaravati.
