A.P. Assembly passes resolution to notify Amaravati as the only capital

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution, requesting the Central government to declare and notify Amaravati as the sole capital city of the State.

The resolution said that the words ‘at Amaravati’ be inserted in Section 5 (2) of the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014 (APRA) and ‘and Amaravati includes the Capital city areas notified under the A.P. Capital Regional Development Act, 2014’ be added to the explanation to Section 5 as per the advice of the High Court contained in its order dated March 3, 2022.

Assembly Speaker Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu forwarded the resolution to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Union Home Minister, Secretary of the Union Home Ministry and Chief Secretary of the State government to have the APRA amended to that effect.

The 11 MLAs of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), including its president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, remained absent when the resolution was passed in the House .

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the A.P. government had shifted its base of operation to the Vijayawada-Guntur region soon after the bifurcation of the unified State in 2014, though it could stay in Hyderabad, the joint capital of A.P. and Telangana, for 10 more years.

“The government wanted to build A.P.’s own capital as quickly as possible. However, then Leader of Opposition, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had initially offered unconditional support to the capital proposed in Amaravati, but changed his stand after winning the 2019 elections, due to sheer political expediency,” he said.

“The Sivaramakrishnan Committee had clearly stated in its report (submitted in 2014) that 46% of the people of Andhra Pradesh wanted the capital to be located between Vijayawada and Guntur,” Mr. Naidu said, while pointing out that the TDP government of the day took various steps across the State to ensure decentralised growth. 

Mr. Naidu said that ‘Andhra State’ came into existence in 1953 following the supreme sacrifice made by Potti Sreeramulu, and the first capital was set up in Kurnool before it was shifted to Hyderabad after ‘Andhra Pradesh’ was formed in 1956. The capital moved to Amaravati post-bifurcation. 

“The YSRCP government had brought the development of Amaravati to a grinding halt during its tenure, for which it paid a heavy price in the 2024 elections. However, they kept up their vicious campaign (against the capital). Since people can no longer bear with the uncertainty, we are moving this resolution so that ‘Amaravati cannot be moved even an inch in future,” Mr. Naidu observed.

The Chief Minister noted that he had, at the time of bifurcation, fought for ‘equal justice’ to both Telangana and the residual State of Andhra Pradesh, while Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was focused on ‘protecting his political interests’. 

Mr. Naidu said he envisaged Amaravati as an economic powerhouse for the entire State and that he was indebted to the more than 29,000 farmers who gave away around 34,000 acres for the capital project in just 58 days.