Naidu performs Bhumi Puja For New Capital Of AP

AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today performed the ground-breaking ceremony (Bhumi Puja) for the construction of a new capital city christened Amaravathi, amidst the chanting of Vedic hymns.

Naidu, along with his wife Bhuvaneshwari, performed the ritual at the Mandadam village of the Tullur mandal in the Guntur district on the banks of the Krishna river.

The ceremony began in the wee hours at a place selected by vaastu experts, and was conducted after getting an approval from the Election Commission as the model code of conduct is in force ahead of the AP Legislative Council polls in the Krishna and Guntur districts, scheduled to be held next month.

The new capital will be developed in and around the Vijayawada-Guntur region.

After the foundation-laying ceremony, the Chief Minister addressed a public meeting. He thanked all the farmers who had come forward to part with their lands for the development and construction of the new capital for Andhra Pradesh.

He said that the five crore people of Andhra Pradesh had got a historic opportunity to build a new capital for their State. He said that Amaravathi would be developed as a financial hub and a tourist centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would officially launch the construction work of the new capital on Vijayadasami, he added.

Addressing the public meeting, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Centre would extend all possible help for the construction of the new capital. She described the "showers" experienced at the time of the bhoomi puja as an auspicious sign.

Besides Sitharaman, union ministers P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Choudhary, the CM's son Nara Lokesh, brother-in-law Nandamuri Balakrishna, and AP ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior bureaucrats attended the ceremony. (NSS)