New Delhi, April 2 Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury on Thursday criticized the BJP-led central government for bringing the bill to make Amaravati the permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh after 12 long years, saying it was a matter of "shame" that a state did not have a capital for that long.
Participating in the debate on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, she called it a victory for the farmers of Amaravati who had fought for it for many years and said it had restored their pride.
"It is a shame that we are discussing the AP Reorganisation Bill, which should have been discussed 12 years ago. It is actually a statement of national shame and the so-called collective wisdom and intelligence of this House. It took 12 years to fulfill a commitment made on the floor of this House," Chowdhury said.
"...years later, the government brings the bill to recognize Amaravati as the capital, and we are supposed to be grateful for this. This is a victory for the farmers of Amaravati who fought for it day and night," she said.
Chowdhury said that due to 12 years of administrative ambiguity, investor confidence had dropped, and nobody invested in the state.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu intervened and called it a "very emotional moment" for him.
"This redefines the pride, this redefines the faith, this redefines the consciousness of the country it has on its democracy, on the leadership and the whole political system also... And this is something which has much stronger repercussions than looking at it as simply or merely regarding a subject of a state and its capital," he said.
Naidu said that when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated and Telangana was formed in 2014, it was for the first time in history that the new state got a capital and the other was left out without a capital.
YSRCP MP Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy meanwhile opposed the bill in its "present form," and said, "it is not addressing the problems of 29,000 farmers, who have given 34,000 acres of farmland for Amaravati capital without any payment under land pooling".
According to the bill, the provisions of the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act provide that from the appointed day, Hyderabad will be the common capital for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a period not exceeding ten years.
After ten years, Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana, and there will be a new capital for Andhra Pradesh. After the reorganisation law came into being, the Andhra Pradesh government, "after due consideration, consultation, and planning, identified and notified 'Amaravati' as the new capital of that state," the bill noted.
Once the bill becomes an Act, Amaravati will be legally recognized as the capital of Andhra Pradesh with effect from June 2, 2024.
The bill was passed by Lok Sabha on Wednesday.