The Amaravati farmers and those who have been supporting them in the agitation have changed their slogan on Saturday.

The agitation has been on for more than 800 days with a slogan on “Save Amaravati”. They launched the agitation in January 2020 following chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy introducing three capital bills.

They have been asking the government to continue Amaravati as the only capital of the state and oppose any move to shift any wing of the capital from Amaravati.

With the high court supporting the movement and issuing directions to the government to complete the capital city construction in six months, the farmers have named the movement as Build Amaravati.

Though the high court had directed the government to build the capital, there are no signs of the government going forward in this direction. The government has not made any allocation of funds for Amaravati in the budget, nor it appears to be willing to develop Amaravati.

In this backdrop, the Joint Action Committee of Amaravati re-designed the movement to mount pressure on the government to start “Building Amaravati”, the only capital of the state. The JAC leaders on Saturday announced that they would tour every part of the state and mobilise support for their agitation.

Though they claim that they have support for Amaravati even in North Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, mostly with the backing of the TDP, it is to be seen how the organisations that have been supporting the government on decentralisation would react to these plans.

There are organisations demanding their due share of the capital in Rayalaseeema, particularly asking for a high court. It is a big question if these organisations would remain silent if the farmers spread the agitation to their region.