Taking another U-turn on the issue of AP capital, YSRCP state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy declared that if the YSRCP comes to power again in the next elections, their party chief Jaganmohan Reddy will not go to Visakhapatnam and will rule from Amaravati only.
He explained that if he wins in 2024 and becomes the CM again, he would have ruled from Visakhapatnam. However, he made it clear that the present secretariat in Amaravati is sufficient and there is no need to build new buildings and the capital of Andhra Pradesh is Amaravati.
Participating in the Way2News Conclave held in Mangalagiri, along with former minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Sajjala said that Jagan wanted to go to Visakhapatnam after thinking of 3 capitals. He explained that Jagan did not have the idea of 3 capitals even till 2019 and if he had come, he would have said it then.
He recalled that he had also said in the assembly when he was in the opposition that more acres are needed for the construction of the capital and that it would be better if it was government land. That is why he built a house here but everyone calls it Tadepalli Palace, he added.
Sajjala said that after Jagan became the CM, there was a situation where he did not know where the foundation would go if he laid the foundation in Amaravati. He recalled that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had said earlier that Rs. 1 lakh crore would be spent on the development of the capital.
As the government could not afford that much, he said that Jagan had thought of 3 capitals, Amaravati being one of them and Jagan had planned to rule from Visakhapatnam before the elections, but that did not happen. Sajjala recalled that Jagan had clearly stated in a recent press conference that if he becomes the CM again, he would rule from Amaravati only.
He said that if the development between Guntur and Vijayawada is sufficient, Machilipatnam would also be included, and it would develop into a mega city. He made it clear they will not bother as long as Chandrababu did not spend money on the capital and brought grants from the Center and built many wonderful cities.
