YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday, July 1, announced that the next Assembly elections would be fought as a referendum on MAVIGUN (Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur) versus Amaravati.
MAVIGUN is a proposed 110-km coastal urban development corridor linking Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur, envisioned by the YSRCP. Amaravati, meanwhile, is the capital city currently being developed by the ruling Telugu Desam Party-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Reiterating his support for decentralised development, Jagan said, “We are for MAVIGUN. Everybody who is for MAVIGUN will vote for YSRCP. Everybody who is for Amaravati will vote for Chandrababu Naidu. We will stand by it. We will make it an election issue. We will put it in the manifesto too.”
The YSRCP chief made these remarks while addressing the media at his party office in Tadepalli, reviving the long-running debate over Andhra Pradesh’s capital.
Alleging large-scale corruption in the Amaravati development project, Jagan said contractors were being paid exorbitant amounts under the guise of the capital city development.
“We are totally against the rampant corruption going on in the name of Amaravati. MAVIGUN is the fitting reply to it. It has natural advantages and ready-made infrastructure,” he said.
Jagan also described Amaravati as “a real estate scam” orchestrated by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. He alleged that Amaravati’s internal roads were being built at Rs 53 crore per kilometre, compared to the average national highway construction cost of Rs 24 crore per kilometre.
While declaring that he will seek the people’s mandate in the elections on the capital issue, Jagan declined to comment on his proposal for three capitals — Visakhapatnam as the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital.
The Amaravati capital project has remained one of Andhra Pradesh’s most contentious political issues since the state’s bifurcation in 2014. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP government selected Amaravati as the state’s greenfield capital and acquired more than 33,000 acres through a land pooling scheme, with thousands of farmers voluntarily contributing their land.
After coming to power in 2019, the YSRCP government put most construction work in Amaravati on hold and proposed a three-capitals model, under which Visakhapatnam would serve as the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital. The move triggered prolonged protests by Amaravati farmers, who argued that the government had reneged on its commitment to develop Amaravati as the state’s sole capital.
The three-capitals plan also became the subject of prolonged legal battles. In 2022, the YSRCP government withdrew the legislation that sought to establish the three-capitals framework, stating that it intended to introduce a more comprehensive legislation. However, no fresh law was enacted before the party lost power in 2024.
After returning to office, the TDP-led NDA government revived the Amaravati project and reaffirmed its commitment to developing it as Andhra Pradesh’s sole capital. The government subsequently passed legislation aimed at facilitating the planned development of Amaravati and resumed stalled infrastructure works, positioning the city as the state’s permanent administrative capital.
Responding to Jagan’s remarks, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu accused the YSRCP chief of repeatedly changing his stand on the capital issue and undermining the state’s development.
“We faced humiliation for not having a capital for so long. Earlier they spoke about three capitals, and now suddenly they are talking about MAVIGUN,” Naidu said.
He alleged that Jagan had initially supported Amaravati in the Assembly while it was functioning in Hyderabad, following which thousands of farmers voluntarily pooled their land for the capital project.
Naidu alleged that after the YSRCP came to power in 2019, the Amaravati project was deliberately stalled, halting ongoing construction and creating uncertainty over the capital.
“They conspired to stop it. When construction started, they tried to block it and later blamed the government for everything,” Naidu alleged.
Referring to Jagan’s latest remarks, Naidu said the YSRCP chief had repeatedly shifted his position from supporting Amaravati to advocating for three capitals, and now promoting the MAVIGUN corridor as an alternative.