Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy, announced today that Visakhapatnam will be the capital of the state. In spite of the High Court’s decision from a year ago that legislation cannot be passed for that, he will move there “in the months to come.” Kurnool and Amaravati are the other two capitals.
On appeal from Mr. Reddy’s YSRCP government, the case is currently before the Supreme Court.
Andhra Pradesh CM Declared Visakhapatnam To Be The New Capital
I invite you to our beautiful state for the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit to be held on the 3rd & 4th of March in Visakhapatnam.
Experience the ease of doing business in our state and partake in our vibrant culture.
Welcome! #APGlS2023 #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/i2WmrvpgV8— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) January 31, 2023
Mr. Reddy has consistently favoured the coastal city as the Executive Capital and made the claim about Visakhapatnam while promoting an investment summit that would be held there. Additionally, he previously stated that he would relocate there for work.
While announcing the global summit scheduled for March 3rd and 4th, he also declared Visakhapatnam to be the capital of Andhra Pradesh in the coming days. Although he did not specify a timeframe, he mentioned that he himself will be shifting over to Visakhapatnam in the months to come.
In 2014, Andhra Pradesh was divided to create Telangana, with Hyderabad acting as the new state’s capital.
Amaravati, a city in the Vijayawada-Guntu region on the banks of the Krishna River, was selected by the Andhra government to serve as the new capital in 2015.
The Plan Was First Introduced In 2020
In 2020, the state planned to have three capital cities: Visakhapatnam for the executive branch, Amaravati for the legislative branch, and Kurnool for the judicial branch. Later, the government repealed that law, maintaining Amaravati as the official capital.
The largest and most populous city in Andhra Pradesh is Visakhapatnam, which is sometimes abbreviated as Vizag. Chief Minister Jagan Reddy favours making Visakhapatnam the state capital. Following Chennai, the state capital of Tamil Nadu, it is the second-largest city in India on the east coast. In 2020, he argued that Visakhapatnam was an obvious choice to serve as the executive capital because it is the largest city in the state with ready-made infrastructure. He went on to say that Amaravati, in contrast, would require more than ₹1 lakh crores to build even the most fundamental infrastructure.
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons