Andhra Pradesh at last got the capital, Amaravati

Dr Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao

With the amendment made to the AP reorganisation Act by the parliament and subsequent Gazette notification of Amaravati as the sole and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh the unpleasant tag of ‘only state in India without a capital city’ got erased. It took almost 12 years for correcting the past mistakes and to remove the deliberately inserted clauses by the then Congress party lead UPA government to hurt the interests of Andhra Pradesh. From 2014 to till recent time Andhra Pradesh, the newest state with the old name, was without a designated capital, though Amaravati is not officialised.  This situation was because of the hasty, politically oriented decision of the then UPA government decision to divide the first linguistic state in the country. This decision was taken by the Congress party under the presidentship of Sonia Gandhi, despite Indira Gandhi’s emphatic statement on the floor of the house of not dividing the linguistic states. Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, with defeat staring on Manmohan Singh lead UPA, Congress party moved the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Bill with political intention of gaining in the to be created in Telangana and weakening the regional party TDP and YSRCP in the Andhra area. It is different matter that along with other state voters in the north India, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh voters rejected Congress.

The division of AP was done in such a secretive way that even the Congress MPs from the state of AP are not briefed on the content of the Bill. Finally when the Bill was brought before the Parliament the city of Hyderabad was kept as the common capital for both the states despite not having geographical proximity for Andhra people with that common capital. As per the Act the common capital is for 10 years which means that status ended on June 2, 2024.

Surprisingly, the CMs of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu in his earlier stint of 2014-19 or Jaganmohana Reddy 2019-24 ever tried to get the proposed capital Amaravati notify as the administrative centre. Chandrababau Naidu who initiated the capital move and acquired land required for capital through an innovative land pooling method could not pursue formality needed for Amaravati as capital because his political interests over rided the state interests. He walked out of NDA and faced the electorate in 2019 to get defeated. For Jagan, in whom people placed faith in that election, Amaravathi is an anathema and he had his three capital idea which damaged the dreams of Andhra people.

After 12 years now that the ambiguity of capital is removed by the Gazette notification where identified 29 villages area now under the control of Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA), a special purpose unit created during the earlier Chandrababu Naidu, the state can go ahead with its plans. The laughable proposal of other regional party in the state, YSRCP, of having the capital corridor along the 6 lane national highway starting from the port town of Machilipatnam and Guntur passing through Vijayawada should not be taken by the government and expedite the works of capital city.

Amaravati as capital was endorsed by the electorate in 2024 elections through the anti-Jagan vote. Its location in the centre of the state, accessible to all districts, the rail, and road connectivity, situated on the Krishna river bank are the favourable issues. The debate of losing fertile land, questions posed by the National Green Tribunal ended with the approval of parliament. Building the Greenfield capital city was approved by the institutions like HUDCO, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and World Bank through their liberal funding and loans. The infrastructure development worth 60 thousand crores is underway. The Chandrababu Naidu government envisions Amaravati as growth engine for the AP economy creating $2.4 trillion economy by 2047. Unlike earlier decade Andhra Pradesh got the political advantage with Chandrababu Naidu patching up with Modi and deputy CM Pavan Kalyan acting as a conduit for reapproachment with NDA.

On paper everything appears rosy but the challenges still persist. There is hardly three years left before the next elections and before that visibility of Amaravati should take shape. Delivering the quick results is the immediate task. The farmers who gave their lands for the sake of capital are waiting for their profit in the capital development and some of them are frustrated at the slow pace of development. Chandrababu Naidu must complete the infrastructure to allow the much publicised Quantum computing location of IBM in Amaravati and show case it to the voters. Once governmental activity through its various departments now scattered across Guntur and Vijayawada cites shift to Amaravati, the investing mentality filled coastal Andhra communities will move to capital with their money. Chandrababu Naidu’s pronounce PPP model will get unleashed once the minimum working atmosphere is established in the proposed capital. Road infrastructure building should be hastened and graphic presentation of future city be controlled and realistic situation be shared with the people of Andhra Pradesh who are all for Amaravati at this time. Any disappointing actions from the government will impede the political growth of TDP and also the future development of Amaravati. Hope Chandrababu Naidu will come out of the clutches of same old advisers whose advises were the cause for his defeat in 2019 and will listen to the people with genuine interest in the development of Andhra Pradesh.

(Author is retired professor. Views expressed are personal.)