Andhra Won't Have 3 Capitals Now As Jagan Govt Junks Bill, Wants Further Discussions

The Jagan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh on Monday repealed the 3-capital bill, which would have allowed the state to have three capitals. Speaking on the matter in the assembly, the chief minister said he wants further discussions with all stakeholders and then make a decision on decentralisation. A new bill will be formulated and introduced soon.

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed a bill to repeal the controversial AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, that was intended to establish three capitals for the state.

Effectively, the old Capital Region Development Act 2014 will come into force, which means Amaravati will be the working capital until a new decision is taken.

Earlier, Advocate General S Subramaniam informed the High Court that the government has decided to withdraw the law. He said the chief minister would make a statement on this in the state Assembly. The High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice P K Mishra asked the AG to file a detailed affidavit and adjourned the hearing till 2.30 PM. The state Cabinet conducted an emergency meeting and cleared the Repeal Bill to be introduced in the Legislature, government sources said.

Last year, the then governor, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, had signed two Bills – the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2020 that involved setting up executive, legislative and judicial capitals at Vishakhapatnam, Amaravati and Kurnool respectively.

Thousands of farmers, who gave up over 34,000 acres of fertile land for setting up the state capital in Amaravati, challenged the two laws in the high court. More than 100 petitions were filed by the farmers in this regard.

CM Jagan had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah too recently and held discussions for over one-and-a-half hours. He also urged Shah to direct the authorities concerned to initiate the process of re-notification of locating the High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Kurnool and also took it to his notice that the proposal was also part of the BJP’s official manifesto for 2019 state elections.

The Chief Minister impressed upon Shah that Andhra Pradesh was committed to the concept of balanced regional development and decentralisation of governance and hence was planning to decentralise capital functions at three locations.

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