It appears YSR Congress party led by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is running out of ideas to attack the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
They seem to have no clue to counter the coalition government which successfully managed the Centre to get statutory status to the capital city of Amaravati, after getting the AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill passed in Parliament.
The gazette notification after Presidential assent to the bill was also issued on Monday night.
While the bill was being debated in Lok Sabha, Jagan Mohan Reddy came up with the crazy idea of declaring MAVIGUN (Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur) as the Plan-B for developing as the new capital region, instead of Amaravati.
Even as Jagan’s proposal resulted in heavy trolling on social media, the next day, when the bill was being discussed in Rajya Sabha, YSRCP MP Y V Subba Reddy suddenly sought to bring alive the dead issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh, but it failed to generate any response from the people.
In the last three days, the YSRCP leaders have been desperately trying to project MAVIGUN as the best proposal for the capital, instead of high-cost Amaravati project, but there is not much support to the idea.
And on Tuesday, senior YSRCP leader and former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao came up with yet another argument, stating that Amaravati capital city project might evoke the demand for yet another bifurcation of state, as it leads to regional disparities.
Speaking to reporters, Dharmana accused the Naidu government of prioritising only one region and a handful of wealthy interests at the cost of backward
Dharmana said Chandrababu should remember that regional imbalance in fund allocation was one of the factors that contributed to the Telangana movement in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.
He argued that excessive focus on Hyderabad at the cost of other regions had led to alienation in the past, and alleged that the State government is now repeating the same mistake by neglecting Uttarandhra and Rayalaseema while concentrating resources on Amaravati.
Dharmana also alleged that the government had failed to distribute even small extents of land to the poor in backward areas, and questioned why major irrigation projects in North Andhra remained incomplete even after several decades.
He raised concerns over the lack of harbour infrastructure in the long coastal belt of North Andhra, asking why a region with vast coastline had not received adequate maritime development.
He questioned why Srikakulam district projects were not receiving even a fraction of the funding being discussed for Amaravati.
He asked whether people of North Andhra and Rayalaseema were expected to remain developmentally marginalised for decades while resources were concentrated in one region.
Warning against what he called a Hyderabad-style concentration of wealth and infrastructure, Dharmana said such an approach could create fresh regional resentment in the future.
Dharmana said if already developed regions alone are repeatedly prioritised, backward regions would be left with “nothing but deprivation.”
Dharmana, however, remained silent on MAVIGUN proposal, as it would also mean development being concentrated only in three districts.
It is better the YSRCP takes up real public issues to attack the Naidu government, instead of raising the same old issues that have lost their relevance.
