Vendetta Visions In Ghost Town

Once touted as the next Singapore, Amaravati, the upcoming capital of Andhra, stares at a hazy future as the Naidu-Jagan Reddy rivalry intensifies.

- G.C. Shekhar

THERE is a story in the Mahabharata about the Kauravas’ visit to the grand Maya Sabha the Pandavas had built in Indraprastha. Duryodhana is repeatedly flummoxed by the palace’s optical illusions— he trips into a pool assuming it’s a floor and walks into a wall as it resembles an archway. The Pandava princes mock him and he is left humiliated, albeit jealous of the magnificence of the palace and its visual splendours.

Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh’s upcoming capital, is yet to acquire the splendour of the Pandava palace and largely remains a mirage on the horizon. It is still in the initial stages of construction— while a few projects are in progress, many have not even begun. But “the city of the future” has already become a sticking point for Andhra’s new chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. In fact, Amaravati could soon become a grand illusion if Jagan has his way and scraps or downgrades the dream project of his predecessor, Chandrababu Naidu.

Naidu, who has dreamt big and planned bigger, had envisaged Amaravati as the newest metropolis of India, spread over 217 square kilometres. If Reddy chooses to constrain it, the outcome could be just a conglomeration of high-rise towers housing government offices—nowhere near his predecessor’s grandiose plans. Two days before the laying of the foundation stone of Amaravati in October 2015, Naidu had declared: “People should remember me for what I have done. That is the inner energy which is driving me every second.” If only the electorate had also remembered to re-elect him for a second term, Naidu could have been confident about flaunting Amaravati down the years.