For the first time, the Jana Sena has managed to put brakes on a key decision in the coalition government. However, whether this is temporary or permanent remains to be seen — only time will tell. Neither before the elections nor after the coalition came to power was there any mention of the Amaravati expansion project. All parties only promised to revive the stalled Amaravati project, but suddenly Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu brought forth a proposal to acquire an additional 42,000 acres for Amaravati expansion. Even leaders from his own party were surprised by this move. TDP sources revealed that the thought of expansion and acquiring additional land came to Chandrababu only after loan arrangements for the completion of the first phase were finalized. A few days ago, this was discussed and decided in a cabinet meeting. But in the subsequent CRDA meeting, reports suggested that the proposal was halved. There are also criticisms that the government is deliberately creating confusion regarding the land figures.
Reliable sources say that in the july 9 cabinet meeting, Jana Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, along with Minister Nadendla Manohar, expressed objections to the Amaravati expansion land acquisition. They reportedly said there is a gap between the ground reality and what the government is claiming. At the same time, they suggested that it would be better to first do justice to those who had already given up land for the capital before focusing on new acquisitions — leading to brakes being applied to the decision. It is said that the matter will now be widely discussed in the cabinet sub-committee before moving forward, making it clear that it was Jana Sena that stalled the decision. Pawan Kalyan had previously opposed acquiring such a huge chunk of land for the capital Amaravati. There was criticism that he remained silent even though a proposal was made now to acquire more land than the first phase under the name of expansion. Hence, TDP sources confirmed that he clarified his stance in the cabinet.
Now, the question remains — how will Chandrababu Naidu convince them in the coming days?. A few days ago, on one hand, Minister Narayana was promoting that farmers are coming forward to give land for capital expansion, while on the other hand, Jana Sena minister Nadendla Manohar acknowledged that the concerns of the farmers had come to their attention. Pawan Kalyan and Nadendla Manohar also pointed out in the cabinet that farmers are not so willing to part with their land for the expansion. As a result, the proposal was postponed for further discussion. Now it remains to be seen whether this is just temporary or if the government will come up with a better package to convince the farmers. Since the coalition government came to power, this is the first time that a large project heavily promoted by Chandrababu through Minister Narayana has been temporarily halted. It is already known that the additional land was proposed to be used for a 5,000-acre Greenfield International Airport, 2,500 acres for a Sports City, and another 2,500 acres for Green Industries. Now, it remains to be seen when this proposal will take off again.