Jagan Reddy’s Andhra may be India’s first state with 3 capitals

Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement about three capitals drew a stinging response from Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu who described it as thoughtless and impractical.

Andhra Pradesh may soon have three capital cities representing three different regions – north coastal Andhra, central Andhra and Rayalaseema in place of current capital Amaravati, for decentralised development.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a statement in the legislative assembly that his government was considering creation of three capital cities to decentralise development of the state. (ANI)

On Tuesday, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a statement in the legislative assembly that his government was considering creation of three capital cities – a legislative capital, an executive capital and a judicial capital as he advocated decentralised development of the state.

“Visakhapatnam which has infrastructure can be considered for being the executive capital without much investment, while the present Amaravati can be retained as the legislative capital and Kurnool can be considered as the judicial capital. This will give a balanced development,” said Jagan who also heads the YSR Congress party.

His statement in the assembly came minutes before the conclusion of the winter session.

Jagan’s statement drew a stinging comment leader of opposition and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who described the proposal as impractical.

“How can there be three capital cities for a state? Where does Jagan live – Visakhapatnam or Amaravati or Kurnool? Should people run from one region to another region for their works? Giving power to Jagan is like giving a stone to a mad man,” Naidu said after the assembly was adjourned.

Jagan said a reputed consultancy firm would be engaged to work out details and logistics. A decision will be taken after going through the report of the consultancy firm, he said.

The chief minister said an expert committee headed by retired IAS officer G N Rao constituted to decide on the capital area region would submit its report in a couple of days.

Naidu took exception to Jagan making a statement on the capital in the assembly even before the expert committee gave its report. “He is destroying the state with his thoughtless and unilateral decisions,” the TDP chief said.

Jagan pointed out that South Africa too had three capital cities – Bloemfontein, Pretoria and Cape Town – for a decentralised development. Andhra Pradesh, too, could consider the concept of having multiple capitals for the development of all the regions, he said.

In his concluding remarks after the discussion on Amaravati, Jagan said the previous TDP government had brought in a grand design of a capital city developing 53,000 acres with a cost of ₹1.09 lakh crores. He said the entire project was replete with large scale irregularities.

“But our priorities will be different if we have that much money. We think in terms of providing water to the arid Rayalaseema region for which we need ₹60,000 crore. We need ₹16,000 cores for taking Polavaram water to north Andhra and for drinking water grid we need ₹ ₹40,000 crores. Another ₹29,000 crore is needed for the schools and hospitals,” he said, adding that in such a situation, the option of having multiple capitals would better.

Earlier, finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged that the previous TDP government had chosen Amaravati only to benefit the people close to the TDP leadership. He accused the TDP leaders of indulging in insider trading and large scale irregularities in land pooling and awarding contracts to Singapore companies.