Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday hinted that Andhra Pradesh could have three Capitals on the lines of the ones in the Republic of South Africa.
Addressing the Assembly after an intense debate on the Capital issue, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke his mind, and advocated decentralised development of the State.
The RSA has three capitals — Pretoria, the administrative Capital, Cape Town, a legislative capital, and Blomemfontein, the judicial capital.
“We can think in terms of having three capitals — legislative, executive and judicial. Visakhapatnam, which has infrastructure, can be considered for being the executive capital without much investment, while Amaravati can be retained as the legislative capital and Kurnool can be considered as the judiciary capital. A reputed consultancy firm will give its report and a decision will be taken after discussing the details and logistics,’’ Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
Earlier, the House witnessed an animated discussion between the YSRCP and TDP members.
Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy launched a calculated assault on the TDP, accusing the previous government headed by it of “insider trading,” wherein the party leaders and their supporters had bought huge tracts of land in Amaravati during June-December 2014, before the announcement of the Capital was made.
The TDP members, just nine of them, presented a feeble opposition as the YSRCP members Dharmana Prasada Rao and T.J.R. Sudhakara Babu set the stage for a frontal attack.
The Chief Minister said the previous government had set upon a grandiose plan of developing 53,000 acres at a whopping cost of ₹1.09 lakh crore, and the whole process was “riddled with corruption, nepotism and criminal breach of trust.”
Making it clear that his priorities would be to provide adequate drinking water, irrigation facilities and implementing welfare schemes, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “We need ₹60,000 crore to provide water to the Rayalaseema region, ₹16,000 crore for taking Polavaram water to north Andhra and ₹40,000 crore for the drinking water grid. For the Naadu-Nedu programme, we need ₹29,000 crore. Since our priorities are so different and aimed at welfare, we have to consider if spending ₹1.09 lakh crore is necessary for Capital formation.’’
