Naidu meets families of farmers who died during protests in Amaravati capital region

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu met the families of three persons who had lost their lives recently during the farmers protest in the Amaravati capital region.

Naidu visited the house and met families of M Venkateswara Rao (50), Govindu (82) and K Mallikarjuna Rao (55), all of whom had lost their lives in the past three days and consoled the bereaved families.

During the course of his visit on Monday, Naidu also attacked the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government over its ruthless way of dealing with the farmers and not listening to their demands.

"The state is in the doldrums. In a statement of confusion, the farmers came on to the roads. The entire state is expressing solidarity with them. This Mallikarjuna Rao is a YSRCP worker, but gave lands for capital. That was beyond politics. But Jagan is collapsing the entire economy of the state. Many YSRCP workers in the region are collapsed. Jagan has no answer for them. He is working against the sentiments of people," Naidu said on Monday.

"The state has become a police state. They are filing false cases against farmers. But with their (farmers) spirit, we will definitely achieve Amaravati someday," he said.

Earlier on Monday, a large number of villagers in Amaravati capital region held a foot-march from Tulluru village to Mandadam village to protest against the three capitals proposal, demanding that Amaravati is retained as the only capital of the state.

The people of 29 villages in the region have been protesting for weeks against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's idea of creating three state capitals. They are demanding Amaravati to be retained as the sole capital of the state.

Andhra Pradesh Police, on the other hand, has appealed to the people not to stage protests in the capital region as permission for the same has not been granted.

The GN Rao Committee has recommended the Andhra Pradesh government to have decentralised development by having three capital cities for the legislature, executive and judiciary and put the available resources to the best use taking into consideration concerns on environment and for balanced regional growth.

The government is also considering the recommendations of the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) report on the comprehensive development of the state.