5,000-Crore Vizag Land Grab: Attacks on Ambati, Jogi Ramesh Meant to Divert Attention

Former minister Gudivada Amarnath has launched a scathing attack on the ruling Telugu Desam Party–led coalition, accusing it of orchestrating violence and arson to divert public attention from what he described as a massive ₹5,000-crore land grab by the family of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Visakhapatnam.

Addressing the media, Amarnath alleged that provocative politics and targeted attacks on leaders of the YSR Congress Party are being deliberately used to bury the serious charge of illegal occupation of government land. “This is not law and order—it is a calculated distraction,” he said.

Amarnath claimed that 44 acres of prime government land were illegally occupied by a relative of the Chief Minister, the Visakhapatnam MP Shri Bharat. He pointed out that while former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy assessed the land’s market value at ₹5,000 crore, the MP has attempted to dilute the issue by pegging it at ₹1,000 crore and offering to pay a government-fixed price. “Public land is not a private estate to be grabbed first and justified later,” Amarnath asserted.

Providing background to what he termed the GITAM land scandal, Amarnath said GITAM University was allotted 71 acres of government land in 1998 at a throwaway price of ₹18,000 per acre. Despite enjoying enormous benefits from public land for nearly four decades, he alleged, there is no evidence of the institution providing even a single free seat to poor or meritorious students. He further claimed that the land obtained from the government was mortgaged to banks with official permission, raising serious questions about the misuse of public assets.

Drawing a contrast, Amarnath said land allotted during the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government for an international school came with strict conditions, including 25 per cent free seats, a fact he said the present coalition is deliberately misrepresenting.

Amarnath warned that arrests, attacks and arson will not intimidate the opposition. He said the alleged land grab and the GITAM land issue would be pursued before appropriate forums and exposed across Uttarandhra and the rest of the state. “The truth will come out, no matter how much violence is unleashed to suppress it,” he said.