As a goodwill gesture AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu government has granted 400 acres near Vijayawada at the capital city to the Isha foundation of Godman Jaggi Vasudeva to set up his Ashram and other units.





Goman Jaggi Vasudev had conducted a three-day Inner Engineering training programme for ministers and HODs by Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev way back in January and had kicked up a political storm.





After the Coimbatore-based Isha Foundation has expressed its willingness to set up its institutions in Vijayawada, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev accompanied by Human Resources Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao visited forest land near Mulapadu on Tuesdayalong with state officials.





Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao announced that the Foundation was keen on setting up a leadership academy, an International School for Corporate Law and an art and crafts institute and that the state government has approached the centre for clearance of the forest land.





However the proximity of the proposed academy to the new state capital Amaravati, where the government is pooling over 33,000 acres of agricultural lands has raised eye brows. The APCC has already opposed the state government move. "How can the government give away forest land quite close to the new capital to Isha Foundation,” Malladi Vishnu, former Vijayawada MLA questioned adding that the Mulapadu close to national highway was a hot property where an acre of land was sold for Rs 2 crore.