Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday, April 19, announced that he will shift his office to Visakhapatnam, the new capital of the state, by September. The CM made this announcement while addressing a public meeting in Srikakulam after laying the foundation stone for a Rs 360 crore modern fishing harbour.
“As part of the decentralisation of governance, from this September, your son (Jagan) will shift his residence to Visakhapatnam,” the Chief Minister said. Earlier in January, Jagan already announced Visakhapatnam as the state capital in place of Amaravati. The announcement came during the preparatory meeting for the Global Investors Summit which was held in Visakhapatnam in March.
After conducting the bhoomi puja for Mulapeta greenfield port and fishing harbour, Jagan said that the previous government failed to develop a harbour or port that would have led to the growth of northern Andhra.
Following the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh in 2014, former CM N Chandrababu Naidu had announced that Amaravati would be developed as the new capital of the state. His successor Jagan however withdrew the plan.
Initially, Jagan had announced that Andhra Pradesh will have three capitals – Amaravati for Legislature, Kurnool for Judiciary and Visakhapatnam for the Executive. However, in November 2021, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government repealed the controversial AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020 intended to establish three capitals for the state.
Jagan had then stated that his government would bring them back in a new form. The CM’s silence over Amaravati and Kurnool as the other capitals, along with Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath calling the three capitals idea as a “miscommunication” was seen with suspicion by farmers in Amaravati.
The previous government pooled lands from the farmers of Amaravati towards the capital’s construction, and they have been protesting the government’s decision. In March last year, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered the state government to develop Amaravati as the state’s capital within six months. It also directed the government to continue all halted development activities in the region. But, the YSRCP government had approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s verdict.