A statement by Andhra Pradesh finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy at an investor meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday, stating that the ‘three capitals for the state’ are a misconception and Visakhapatnam is going to be the actual capital, has triggered a debate in the state political circles.
Rajendranath Reddy, who was addressing industrialists of Bengaluru as part of inviting them to the Global Investors Summit to be held in Visakhapatnam in March, said there was some miscommunication concerning three capitals for Andhra Pradesh.
“We are going to make Visakhapatnam as our next capital, and that AP (Andhra Pradesh) is going to have three capitals is wrong,” he said, answering a question from one of the investors.
He said Visakhapatnam was chosen as the capital because it already had infrastructure like ports, industries, an ideal climate, cosmopolitan culture and had the scope for expansion with little investment.
On the talk of making Kurnool the judicial capital, Rajendranath Reddy said it was not a judicial capital per se. “Just like Karnataka has high court benches in Dharwad and Kalaburagi, Andhra Pradesh will have the principal bench of the high court in Kurnool. We have chosen Kurnool for the high court bench as part of implementing the Sri Bagh agreement signed 100 years ago before the formation of Andhra state,” he said.
Similarly, the minister said for the legislature, there will be one session of the assembly at Guntur, just like Karnataka has in Belagavi. This would address, to a large extent, the sub-regional aspirations of Andhra Pradesh, he asserted.
Rajendranath Reddy’s statement comes within days of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy declaring at a meeting in Delhi that Visakhapatnam will be the capital of Andhra Pradesh in the days to come and he, too, would be moving his office there very soon.
On Wednesday, TDP official spokesman and MLC P Ashok Babu said the finance minister’s statement exposed the confusion in the ruling YSR Congress party.
“How can Rajendranath Reddy declare Visakhapatnam as the capital when the issue is pending hearing in the Supreme Court?” he asked.
Babu said the chief minister, too, declared Visakhapatnam as the capital and it was now endorsed by the finance minister. “Do the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues have faith in the judiciary? Can they dare enact legislation declaring Visakhapatnam as the state capital?” he asked.
Communist Party of India state secretary K Ramakrishna said Reddy’s statement on the capital had exposed the conspiracy of the Jagan government against Amaravati capital city.
“The YSRCP government had proposed three capitals only to hoodwink the people. The real intention of the ruling party in declaring Visakhapatnam as the capital is to protect the ruling party’s interests. We demand that the government hold a referendum on the location of the capital,” Ramakrishna said.
Clarifying the government stand later in the evening, YSRCP general secretary and advisor to the state government (public affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the finance minister’s comments were wrongly interpreted.
“The government is committed to decentralisation of administration through three capitals. Rajendranath Reddy, too, tried to explain the same thing at the Bengaluru meeting,” he said.
Reddy said the entire administration, including the secretariat, chief minister’s office (CMO) and cabinet, operates from Visakhapatnam.
“The assembly will remain in Amaravati, and the high court will function from Kurnool. We have given them the names of legislative and judicial capitals respectively. There is no dispute. We are going to explain the same in the Supreme Court,” he clarified.
