Apparently stung by the High Court order staying the Andhra Pradesh Government's move to collect donations for building Amaravati from the school students and teachers, Telugu Desam Party president and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu sought to defend himself saying that there was no forcible collection of donations from students and teachers, but they were only voluntary contributions.
Naidu told media in Tirupati that the donations were part of “My brick, My Amaravati and My Capita” campaign, which was aimed at generating the feeling of ownership programme among different sections of people.
There is absolutely no force on anyone to donate for Amaravati. “The students are voluntarily giving donations only to become partners in building the capital city,” he said.
However, what Naidu failed to explain as to why the government had to issue a circular to all schools asking donations from students and teachers. If it was a voluntary contribution, he should have made an open appeal and stop there.
The fact that the government had sent an official circular itself shows that it was forcibly collecting money from students and the circular has no mention of voluntary contribution, but it looked like mandatory collection.
Mangalagiri MLA and senior YSR Congress leader Alla Ramakrishna Reddy who filed the petition before the High Court said that it is not correct to forcibly collect donations even for building the capital and the Chief Minister should, at least now, stop spending funds for his helicopter and chartered flights.
