Tension mounts as supporters of YSRC and BJP fight on three capitals issue
Vijayawada: Tension mounted on Friday with the ruling YSR Congress supporters and the BJP leaders engaging in heated arguments on the three- capitals issue in Uddandarayunipalem village of Thullur mandal in Guntur district on Friday.
The farmers and villagers associated with the Amaravati Joint Action Committee called for a meeting on Friday at Mandadam village to mark completion of 1,200 days of the movement that demanded Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
BJP national secretary Satya Kumar and others attended the meeting and criticised chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for “creating a conflict of interest on every subject, and on regional and caste grounds among the people, like his three-capitals plan.”
Angered at the critical remarks against the chief minister, some YSR Congress supporters stopped the convoy of vehicles carrying BJP senior leader Satya Kumar and others at Uddandarayunipalem village. Rival sides entered into heated arguments. In the melee, the windshield of the BJP senior leader’s car was broken.
Later, Satya Kumar alleged that it was a pre-planned attack on him and the party supporters as they spoke up for Amaravati as the capital city. He said his assistant was assaulted by the YSRC men. He found fault with the police for failing to come to their rescue.
Notably, a large number of farmers had volunteered to pool nearly 33,000 acres of land for developing the capital city in Amaravati during the term of the TD government. However, the YSR Congress government led by chief minister Jagan Reddy decided to have three capitals for the state, with the executive capital proposed for Visakhapatnam, the judicial capital in Kurnool and the legislative capital in Amaravati.
The Thullur police said no case was booked so far as no complaint was lodged by either party.
Meanwhile, AP BJP chief Somu Veerraju expressed concern over the development and asked the CM whether targeting the opponents could be considered a democratic exercise.
