Naidu hits out at Jagan over graft charges in Amaravati work
image for illustrative purpose
Yadiki (Andhra Pradesh): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday accused YSRCP supremo Jagan Mohan Reddy of levelling corruption allegations at a time when work on the greenfield capital Amaravati is "progressing well", and the state is witnessing development.
The former chief minister had recently alleged that "massive corruption" was taking place under the pretext of building the capital city, claiming that construction costs were as high as nearly Rs15,000 per sq ft.
"At a time when Amaravati work was progressing well, and development is taking place, he (Jagan) is alleging corruption out of frustration and an inability to accept it," Naidu said while addressing a public meeting at Yadiki in Anantapur district.
Branding Jagan’s brainchild MAVIGUN—a proposal to declare Machilipatnam, Vijayawada and Guntur as a capital corridor—as "crazy", Naidu alleged that the opposition leader was unwilling even to utter the word Amaravati.
"I do not understand this craze. It has only intensified," he said, ridiculing the MAVIGUN proposal.
On April 1, Jagan had advised Naidu to designate the MAVIGUN region as the capital area or corridor of Andhra Pradesh, calling the Rs2 lakh crore Amaravati project "impractical".
The YSRCP chief argued that MAVIGUN would require only a tenth of the Rs 2 lakh crore being spent on building the greenfield capital city from scratch.
According to him, the distance between Machilipatnam and Vijayawada is 75 km, and between Vijayawada and Guntur is 40 km—a stretch of about 110 km that is already well connected by a National Highway, unlike Amaravati.
