Representative image.

HYDERABAD: The AP government has named its new capital after the ancient Buddhist village of Amaravati in a bid to attract the nations in the Far East, but it has unwittingly drawn the attention of the media in Pakistan.

The now discarded dome-shaped design for the AP state assembly at Amaravati drawn by international architects Maki and Associates has sparked off a speculation that a mega nuclear power plant is being planned on the right bank of the river Krishna near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

The footage of one such debate on a TV channel in Pakistan was telecast by a Telugu TV channel on Tuesday night. One of the participants on the Pakistani channel alleges that a mega city is being constructed in Andhra Pradesh to manufacture what he called hydrogen bombs. He also accused the US of helping Andhra Pradesh in building Amaravati.

The frequent visits by various teams from China, Japan and Singapore to Vijayawada (Amaravati) has reportedly created a sort of fear psychosis on the other side of the border over a 'mega nuclear city'. Incidentally, the AP government had rejected the 'dome' design for the assembly as it resembled nuclear towers. The government has asked Maki and Associates to come out with a new design. But little did it know that the discarded design would spark off a debate in the neighbouring country.

