Vacate Home, Chandrababu Naidu Told In Jagan Reddy's Demolition Drive

The Andhra Pradesh government has issued notice to owners of 20 buildings, including the house in which former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family are living. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced last week that all illegal structures on the banks of the Krishna river will be demolished.

The notice was pasted on the wall of Mr Naidu's sprawling bungalow that overlooks the picturesque river. He has been living here for the last four years after the state administration moved to Vijayawada from Hyderabad.

The notice says the property on six acres, with a ground floor having reinforced cement concrete structures, a swimming pool, helipad, first-floor residence and 10 temporary sheds were all within 100 metres of the river and built without permission.

The demolition notice issued by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) said Mr Naidu must vacate the place or reply within seven days.

The notice to Mr Naidu comes days after a swanky building with glass walls that was used by Mr Naidu as a venue to meet the public, hold press conferences and conduct sundry work when he was chief minister was demolished by the new state government earlier this week.

The building 'Praja Vedika', conveniently located near Mr Naidu's home, was built in 2017 at a cost of Rs 8.9 crore by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government. Mr Naidu had written to the new Chief Minister on June 4 to allow him to retain the hall so that he could work from there as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.

A petition was filed against the demolition of 'Praja Vedika', arguing that it was a waste of public money. The court, however, said since the structure was illegal, there could be no argument that it should stay. The court could consider recovering the cost of the building from Mr Naidu and Mr P Narayana, who was then municipal administration minister.

Mr Naidu had hit out at Mr Reddy, saying it was foolish to destroy government property. "Many statues don't have permission (and) stand on unauthorised land," Mr Naidu had said, asking if Mr Reddy was planning to pull down statues of his father and former chief minster YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

The YSR Congress decimated Mr Naidu's Telugu Desam Party and also swept to victory in 22 of 25 parliamentary constituencies.

Mr Reddy in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30 had discussed issues regarding special category status for Andhra Pradesh, a demand over which Mr Naidu broke away from the National Democratic Alliance.

Special status will mean a large infusion of central funds to help with the state government's plans to develop its new capital Amravati. This has been a long-standing demand of Andhra Pradesh government since Telangana was carved out of it in 2014.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has indicated the centre is not considering any proposal for special category status for any state for now.