Vijayawada:CM Jagan betrayed Amaravati farmers: Pawan Kayan

Vijayawada: Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kayan has alleged that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has betrayed the farmers of Amaravati and changed his stand on continuation of capital.

Pawan pointed out that Jagan had given his consent for capital Amaravati when he was the Opposition Leader whereas now he was insisting on three capitals for the State.

The Jana Sena chief toured the capital villages Rayapudi, Thullur, Anantavaram and Yerrabalem in Amaravati on Saturday and expressed solidarity with the farmers, who are demanding the continuation of Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Pawan came down heavily on the ruling YSRCP and Chief Minister Jagan while addressing the agitating farmers. He said the YSRCP government was saying that insider trading had taken place in Amaravati and strongly questioned why the government was not taking action against those who indulged in insider trading. He said the State government announced the names of some TDP leaders but was hesitating to take action against them.

Pawan explained to the villagers that the Union government has not given its consent in written form for the three capitals. He said the correspondence between the State and Central governments would take place in writing and there was no proof that the Central government had given it nod for decentralisation of capital.

He said the statements of BJP leaders were entirely different from the government. Pawan said the political leaders' statements were different from that of the government.

'I know that the selection of capital is purely a State affair but shifting of capital is wrong as Jagan Mohan Reddy had earlier given consent for capital Amaravati', Pawan told the villagers of Amaravati.

The Jana Sena chief vowed to continue his support to the farmers and strongly demanded that the capital should be continued at Amaravati only. He said the government can't say that it would construct 13 capitals and would cut the State into 13 pieces or 33 pieces. Pawan said it is not possible in a democracy to say that the government would do anything because it has majority in Assembly. He said the farmers of capital region have made many sacrifices and questioned why the government would go for land pooling in Visakhapatnam when the farmers of Amaravati had given lands to the government for construction of the capital.

He said the YSRCP government could sort out the differences with the TDP but it is wrong to change the capital and recalled that nearly 40 farmers have already lost their lives after agitation started to save Amaravati.