Andhra Pradesh To Have Three Capitals: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

With Amaravati been included in the latest territorial map of India, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is yet to make further changes in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Recently, he came up with an idea of having 3 capitals for the state, similar to the bifurcation done in the republic of South Africa.

He said that the capitals could be divided as legislative, executive and judicial. According to his plan, Visakhapatnam, known to have good infrastructure, will be the executive capital, Amaravati will be retained as the Legislative capital, while Kurnool will be considered as the judiciary capital.

A reputed consultancy will be formed regarding this and will submit its reports, and after taking a final decision with enough logistics and details, the same will be implemented. Earlier, in December 2013, the same plan was to be implemented. It was supposed to be the only way to do justice to all the three regions of Telangana, Rayalaseema, and Andhra.

However, on Tuesday TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu and nine of its members opposed the move suggested by YSRCP members, Dharmana Prasada Rao and T.J.R. Sudhakara Babu, setting the stage for the frontal attack.

Jagan clarified that the main motive of this division is to provide adequate drinking water, irrigation facilities and implementing welfare schemes. "We need ₹60,000 crores to provide water to the Rayalaseema region, ₹16,000 crores for taking Polavaram water to north Andhra and ₹40,000 crore for the drinking water grid. For the Naadu-Nedu program, we need ₹29,000 crores. Since our priorities are so different and aimed at welfare, we have to consider if spending ₹1.09 lakh crores are necessary for capital formation," he added.