BJP MP warns bureaucrats against approving Andhra CM's 3-capital formula

By Pragya Kaushika
New Delhi [India], Jan 18 (ANI): BJP Rajya Sabha member YS Chowdary on Saturday warned the bureaucrats against abiding or advising Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to implement the three-capital formula for the state.
Chowdary, while speaking to ANI, cautioned the bureaucracy of the state for giving their ascent to Chief Minister Reddy's ambitious project of having three capitals including Amrawati.
"The burning issue is the state's finances. If Chief Minister Reddy is not stopped from pursuing the three-capital project, finances can go haywire. The bureaucrats who are giving their assent for three capitals should be careful," said Reddy.
"Otherwise, in the past so many of them (faced the music) and are still going to courts due to decisions made during the regime of the Chief Minister's father. As the cases are sub-judice, I don't want to comment. The officers have to be extra careful while approving these unconstitutional projects," he added.
Chowdary said the BJP would not let the Chief Minister undertake any unconstitutional decision since the decision to have Amrawati as the state capital was taken by Parliament.
"It was after due deliberations over various factors like accessibility, infrastructure and basic amenities that the Advisory Committee agreed on Amrawati as the state capital," noted BJP MP.
Elaborating on the reasons for the opposition to three capitals, he said: "The state cannot take the decision unilaterally. The Bill for Amravati as Andhra's new capital was passed by Parliament. It will be uneconomical as well to have three capitals."
"People will laugh at us. Moreover, thousands of crores will go down the drain. We have already spent Rs 30,000-40,000 crore on Amravati. The works of Rs 10,000 crore have been completed. 29 villages with 26,000 farmers and 30,000 acres of land are involved. I have written a letter to the CM elaborating on how Amravati can be turned into a self-funding project. This has already been the seat of governance. There are Secretariat, Raj Bhavan as well," said Chowdary.
"Why to waste thousands of crores on someone's whims and fancies? We are running a democratic set up. Just because someone gets the number of seats to rule the state, we can't allow undemocratic things to happen," he added.
Responding to the reasons for an alliance with the Jana Sena Party, the former Union Minister praised Pawan Kalyan. "He is a decent personality. The JSP is a like-minded party. He was with the BJP earlier," he said.
The former Union Minister also criticised historian Ramchandra Guha. "I will say the BJP is a secular party. We have never said it is a Hindutva party. The opposition parties have failed on various fronts. It is their internal matter," added Chowdary. (ANI)