There is growing resistance to Chandrababu Naidu’s controversial ‘land pooling’ scheme and his requirement of one lakh acres for the capital.
Former MP Yelamanchali Shivaji became the latest to add his voice to that of the dissenters.
“If you look at Hyderabad, the entire official machinery is housed in not more than 1000 acres. So, why would we need 1 lakh acres? As of now, 23000 acres of land is already available with the government. Why don’t they make use of that first? Small and marginal farmers are already scared because of Naidu’s ultimatum. This is only going to favor the land mafia and the realtors. If at all, Naidu wants to acquire land, he should start off by taking it from all the politicians and industrialists who have purchased huge tracts of land in and around Mangalagiri, and refrain from threatening the poor and helpless farmers,” said Shivaji.
With growing support for the farmers, Naidu is surely in for a splitting headache.
