Bharatiya Janata Party, which is making a desperate attempt to gain footing in Andhra Pradesh, is trying to take maximum advantage of the ongoing agitation by farmers of Amaravati capital region against proposed shifting of administrative capital to Visakhapatnam.
After the initial dilly dallying over YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s announcement in the state assembly on his three capitals plan, the BJP leaders are now speaking more or less in one voice in support of farmers.
BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana has taken a clear stand against the three capitals plan.
While calling for a decentralised development, Kanna said his party was seriously opposed to shifting of administrative capital to Visakhapatnam.
Though the BJP leaders are hoping to gain some political mileage from their stand, there are not many takers for the BJP in the agitation.
It was evident from the way the farmers responded to Kannna Lakshminarayana’s day-long “mouna deeksha” (silent protest) at Uddandarayunipalem, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid foundation stone on October 23, 2015.
Kanna could not continue his agitation even till afternoon, as there was not much response to his protest from the local farmers. A few BJP activists gathered there and raised slogans, but they didn’t attract much attention.
He accused chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cabinet colleagues of planning to sell lands in capital Amaravati in the name of shifting.
He said farmers of the region had given 33,000 acres of land for capital construction under the land pooling scheme and total 75,000 acre was there in the capital including the lands allotted by the Centre.
“Now the ministers and leaders of YSRCP were plotting to sell them to certain private institutions,” he alleged.
