HyderabadYSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday asserted that Amaravati would remain an unrealistic model for a capital city despite receiving statutory status from the Centre.Jagan pitches Mavigun, calls Amaravti model ‘unrealistic’“Andhra Pradesh will continue to remain a state without a capital even after — not just one or two decades, but even three decades — if Amaravati is projected as the capital city,” Jagan said at a press conference at his camp office in Tadepalli in Guntur district.He claimed that, even by the government’s own estimates, developing Amaravati across more than one lakh acres with roads, drainage, water supply and electricity infrastructure would require nearly ₹2 lakh crore.Jagan alleged that Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was using the Amaravati project as a vehicle for financial scams and misleading the public by calling it a “self-financing project”. He said loans and commitments linked to Amaravati had already crossed ₹47,387 crore, while another ₹9,200 crore was being spent directly from the state treasury.“On the other hand, the Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur (Mavigun) regional capital corridor concept proposed by us is the most practical solution considering Andhra Pradesh’s economic realities and existing infrastructure,” he said.Jagan said the proposed Mavigun corridor already had key infrastructure, including the Machilipatnam Port, Vijayawada International Airport, three railway stations, four national highways, several universities and educational institutions, and nine government and private medical colleges.He also claimed that the region already supported a population of nearly 35 to 40 lakh people, unlike Amaravati, which he described as a “greenfield project starting from zero”.Jagan further alleged that the Amaravati land pooling and returnable plots system disproportionately benefited politically connected individuals and business interests.He named several influential individuals and alleged that prime returnable plots along key roads were allotted to Naidu’s associates and benamis, while ordinary farmers received less valuable land parcels in water bodies and low-lying areas.The former chief minister also accused the government of deliberately diverting public attention from the Mavigun proposal through politically motivated controversies and fabricated narratives against the YSR Congress Party.“Naidu’s blood pressure is going up these days whenever we criticise Amaravati and put up the Mavigun proposal in public discourse, because it will expose his irregularities,” Jagan said.The YSRCP chief said the Naidu government had failed to present any meaningful achievements during its two years in office. Describing the government’s “progress report” as disastrous, he said the coalition’s governance had become synonymous with “betrayal guarantees” rather than public welfare.Jagan alleged that the ruling Telugu Desam Party was trying to portray the YSR Congress Party as a villain to divert attention from governance failures.He referred to recent allegations of political violence and the murder of a YSRCP functionary in Kadapa district, alleging that the government was attempting to falsely implicate his party for political gain despite statements by the victim’s family denying political rivalry.The YSRCP chief alleged that members of his family, including his grandfather Y S Raja Reddy and uncle Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, were killed during the TDP regime.“I have doubts even now over the untimely death of my father Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash,” he said.He accused Naidu of practising “conspiracy politics”, “backstabbing politics” and encouraging a culture of violence for political gain. Jagan also referred to the political ouster of former chief minister N. T. Rama Rao, accusing Naidu of betraying his father-in-law to capture power.Jagan said the YSRCP believed in politics based on credibility and public welfare rather than conspiracies and violence.Reacting to Jagan’s comments, former minister and Jana Sena Party leader Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said it was “ridiculous” for the YSRCP chief to propose the Mavigun corridor in place of Amaravati.“When he was chief minister, we told him to develop the capital city between Vijayawada and Guntur, especially in the present Nagarjuna University area. But he ignored it then and was stubborn in proposing three capital cities. Now, he has come up with the Mavigun proposal only to fool the people,” Reddy said.