At Ground Zero of Andhra capital battle, dashed dreams fuel TDP rise, put YSRCP on back foot

Amaravati, barely 20 kms from Vijayawada, was envisaged as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh by the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government that ruled the state between 2014 and 2019.

Five years down the line, Amaravati seems to have turned into a “ghost town”, becoming home to unfinished buildings, abandoned projects, dumped machinery and dashed hopes of hundreds of local residents, especially farmers.

“We gave up our fertile lands, borrowed money and bought a house here as we wanted to secure the future of our children. But today, we have nothing to show except our rising debts,” says Ramchandra Rao, a TDP supporter as he hands out the party’s poll pamphlet to locals in Amaravati town in Guntur district.

The contentious issue of capital has continued to haunt state politics since Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated to create the new Telangana state in 2014. With Andhra Pradesh set for simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls on May 13, the issue has assumed more significance as Hyderabad will cease to be joint capital of the two states after June 2, as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The row has flared up after the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP)’s supremo and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy declared recently at one of his rallies that he would take oath for his second term in the “capital Visakhapatnam”.

After Naidu took charge as the CM after the TDP’s victory in the April-May 2014 Assembly polls, his government proposed the setting up of a “world-class capital” in Amaravati and began land acquisition for it under the AP Capital Development Region (APCDR) proposal from 29 villages surrounding the town.

According to unofficial estimates, about 33,000 acres of land was thus pooled from