Padayatra kicks off amid speculation

Besides TDP, CPI, CPI (M), Congress and Jana Sena, the BJP supported the padayatra by participating in the flagging off programme. Former minister and BJP leader Kamineni Srinivas said that their central leadership is in favour of continuing Amaravati as the capital

Vijayawada: The maha padayatra 2.0 which was flagged off on Monday at Venkatapalem near Guntur, one of the 29 villages from where land was acquired from the farmers for the development of 'people's capital' Amaravati under the aegis of Joint Action Committee of Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti will cover 45 Assembly and 12 Lok Sabha constituencies.

There is hectic speculation that the padayatra may put pressure on the State government to introduce bills on trifurcation of capital in the ensuing session of Assembly and Legislative Council.

Besides TDP, CPI, CPI (M), Congress and Jana Sena, the BJP supported the padayatra by participating in the flagging off programme. Former minister and BJP leader Kamineni Srinivas said they have already made it very clear that their central leadership is in favour of continuing Amaravati as the capital for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone post-bifurcation.

The padayatra, the second after the walkathon named 'nyayasthanam to devasthanam' from Amaravati to Tirupati in November-December of last year, will cover nearly 900 km to reach its rendezvous Arasavalli, known for the famous Sun temple built during Kalinga era in Srikakulam district bordering Odisha, in 60 days. The padayatra 2.0 also marks completion of 1,000 days of agitation by the farmers of 29 villages in Vijayawada-Guntur division.

The erstwhile TDP government had acquired 35,000 acres of irrigated lands under Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) for construction of State Capital claimed as 'people's capital' by promising the farmers 1,000 square yards of developed plot for every one acre of land acquired from them.

The YSR Congress Party government, which wanted to set up three capitals viz legislative capital at Amaravati, executive capital at Visakhapatnam and judicial capital at Kurnool, is under fire from the Amaravati protesters, who are insisting on retaining Amaravati as the single capital for Andhra Pradesh. However, the ruling party alleges that the entire agitation is being organised by the TDP and its national president N Chandrababu Naidu to safeguard their real estate interest.

Though there is no specific announcement, the YSRCP government, which repealed the three capital legislation just before the AP High Court was about to give its judgement on developing Amaravati as the sole capital as sought by some of the land-displaced families, may table new bill in the next session of the Assembly and Legislative Council on trifurcation of the capital for administrative convenience.

Several ministers including Botcha Satyanarayana, Gudivada Amarnath and Seediri Appalaraju alleged that the padayatra 2.0 is aimed at stalling development in North Andhra and incite the people in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts to revolt against the supporters of Amaravati as the single capital with an eye on 2024 Assembly elections. Amarnath told Bizz Buzz that the government is committed to form three capitals as part of the decision to ensure decentralised development.

AP High Court in response to a batch of petitions filed by the farmers and others on March 3 directed the State government to implement the Master Plan works at Amaravati and submit action taken report through an affidavit.