In a goodwill gesture aimed at warming up the relations between the two Telugu States, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called on his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao at his camp office and invited him to Thursday’s foundation stone laying ceremony of the new State capital Amaravati. Naidu, who flew in a special aircraft to Hyderabad from Tirupati this evening first drove to Raj Bhavan to invite Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESl Narasimhan to the event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the new capital.
Naidu, who has planned an extravagant show to make a historic and memorable event, has sent out to the invitations to the Chief Ministers of all the neighboring States as well as the important political leaders and notable personalities chose to extend the invitation to KCR personally.
However, it was still not clear whether KCR will be attending the event or will depute his son and a senior member of his cabinet K Taraka Rama Rao or some other minister to represent him. Officials said that Rao’s engagement diary was already full for the day. AP Government has also extended invitations to the leaders of all the major political parties of Telangana including the Telangana Congress President Uttam Kumar Reddy, BJP President G Kishan Reddy and MIM floor leader in Telangana Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi.
However, invitations to the two prominent personalities of Andhra Pradesh have run in to controversies. leader of opposition in AP assembly YS Jaganmohan Reddy has refused to attend the event charging Naidu Government with forcibly taking away the lands from the farmers to build the new capital. He even refused to meet the Andhra ministers who had come to formally give him in the invitation card.
Similarly, the popular Telugu film star and founder president of Jana Sena Party Pawan Kalyan was unlikely to attend the event. Though on record, the reason was cited with his shooting schedule in Rajasthan on the same day, sources said Pawan Kalyan was dissatisfied over the manner Naidu Government took lands from the farmers.
Secondly, he was also unhappy that instead of Naidu invitation, the invitation card was sent to him through other ministers. Pawan Kalyan, who had aggressively campaigned for TDP-BJP alliance in last year’s general elections, has of late been critical of Naidu regime.
Meanwhile, people of Andhra origin settled in Hyderabad were also participating in various programmes to make the foundation laying ceremony successful. More than 500 IT professionals working in Hyderabad left city on Sunday on cycles to reach Amaravati in time for the foundation ceremony.
Brisk preparations were on for Thursday’s event as people were collecting the soil and water from all over the state. In a symbolic gesture, Chief Minister Naidu collected water and soil from the temple town of Tirumala in Chittoor district on Sunday.
But an uncertainty continues to hang over the event over the environmental clearance for the capital city project. The National Green Tribunal has asked the AP government to stop all the construction works at the site of the capital city till the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest grants its clearance to the project. The Tribunal has served a notice on the district collector of Guntur and special officer of the Capital Region Development Authority.
Another environmental activist and former Union Government secretary EAS Sarm, alleging violation of environmental norms and statutory provisions in planning new capital by AP Government, has urged the PM not to attend Thursday’s ceremony.