Minister calls Amaravati a ‘self-sustainable’ project

Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Ponguru Narayana has termed Amaravati as a ‘self-sustainable’ project that does not involve the spending of public fund.

Addressing a media conference here on Wednesday, he thanked the Union government for recognising Amaravati as the State’s sole capital and announced that the historic decision brought down the curtains on the ‘illogical’ three capitals theory.

“While the erstwhile Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy developed Rushikonda palace for his personal use, we are building Amaravati as the capital of five crore people of Andhra Pradesh. The upcoming capital will surpass the size and scale of Hyderabad soon,” he said.

Taking exception to the YSRCP calling Amaravati a capital intensive project, Mr. Narayana questioned how the party could make baseless allegations after spending ₹750 crore towards etching Jagan’s pictures on survey stones, and another ₹25 crore for printing his photo on pattadar passbooks

Criticising the YSRCP leaders and the media houses associated with them for spreading misinformation on distribution of plots, the minister said 70,790 plots had already been allotted to the beneficiaries and only 650 were yet to receive the same.

The 5,000 acres available with the government would be sold to pay off the debts, he said. “Be it out of ignorance or malice, better keep data on hand before levelling allegations,” he said.

‘Milestone achievement’

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav has described the passing of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which seeks to recognise Amaravati as the sole capital of the State, in the Lok Sabha as a milestone acheivement.

Participating in the disbursement of pensions to beneficiaries at their doorsteps in Lattavaram village of Uravakonda mandal on Wednesday, Mr. Keshav said the Centre has extended its cooperation and funds for development of Amaravati and also for the construction of Polavaram project. Mr Keshav also said that the Centre is offering support to strengthen the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and is working to lay railway lines and highways on a larger scale.

On the other hand, TDP activists led by Anantapur Urban MLA Daggubati Venkateswara Rao celebrated the passing of Bill by bursting crackers and cutting a cake at the Clock Tower in the city.