The Tanuku town in West Godavari district witnessed a tense situation with the Amaravati farmers facing the supporters of three capitals on Wednesday. As the padayatra reached the town from Velpuru village, the supporters of three capitals gathered at the junction raising slogans against the Amaravati farmers.

The decentralisation supporters held black flags and banners against the Amaravati farmers and walked towards the farmers raising slogans against them. They said that Amaravati is a real estate project and the farmers are the opposition TDP activists.

They also alleged that the TDP activists in the name of Amaravati farmers were taking out political rallies to campaign for the TDP. They asked the farmers to go back and raised slogans in favour of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The activists also released black balloons in the air against the Amaravati farmers and said that they welcomed only the decentralisation plan of the state government.

However, the Amaravati farmers too proceeded further with the support of the local police. The police held ropes around the Amaravati farmers and helped them continue their padayatra. The farmers too gave counter slogans in support of Amaravati as the only capital for Andhra Pradesh.

The Amaravati farmers alleged that the state government was encouraging the ruling party activists to create law and order problems and thus stop their padayatra to Arasavalli. The farmers said that they would continue the padayatra despite the ruling YSR Congress Party’s attempts to disturb them.

Earlier in the day, as the farmers entered the Tanuku town, the locals and the supporters of TDP, Jana Sena and the BJP welcomed them. They extended support to the farmers and backed their demand for Amaravati as the capital of the state. The local TDP and Jana Sena activists also raised slogans in support of Amaravati.