Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad: YSRC senior leader Y.V. Subba Reddy attempted to stoke controversy by announcing that his party would press for extending the common capital status to Hyderabad for a few more years. Hyderabad was declared the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years, under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which would end in June this year.
The demand was supported by AP minister Ambati Rambabu, who said that the Centre should decide on the demand to continue Hyderabad as the joint capital.
Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Subba Reddy said the YSRC would raise the demand in the Lok Sabha after the general elections. Though his rationale was unclear, Subba Reddy said the Centre should consider the demand until Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy succeeded in shifting capital to Visakhapatnam.
Blaming former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for the delay in building the AP capital, he said the TD government wasted time in the name of setting up a temporary capital.
He said Jagan Mohan Reddy had categorically announced his refusal to build the grandiose Amaravati capital and preferred to use the funds for the welfare of the poor, but his decision to shift the capital to Vizag was also opposed.
Though he maintained that several AP employees still resided in Hyderabad, Subba Reddy did not say whether the YSRC would prefer to rule from Hyderabad.
The senior YSR Congress leader was ridiculed by Telugu Desam and Telangana state leaders, cutting across political affiliations. “After the three capitals, does Jagan want a fourth capital for Andhra Pradesh,” said senior BRS leader and former MP B. Vinod Kumar. He did not find the rationale behind the continuation of the joint capital as all the offices allotted to AP were vacated, and more importantly, the High Court was bifurcated.
Telangana BJP leaders saw a conspiracy jointly hatched by BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao and Jagan Mohan Reddy to stoke regional sentiments.
BJP leader Eatla Rajendar said, “The issue of Hyderabad as joint capital was never implemented in practice in the last 10 years. Raising the demand now is meant to trigger people's sentiments to benefit KCR. Those who have lost base among the people are trying to make themselves relevant by giving statements like this. There is no feeling that Hyderabad is a joint capital among the people. The demand is irrelevant.”
Former minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said the demand was ridiculous and against the bifurcation Act. “Why did these leaders not talk on these lines when KCR was CM?” he said.
Former Gajuwaka MLA and TD parliamentary constituency president Palla Srinivasa Rao said it would be senseless to move to Hyderabad. “Amaravati, Vizag and three capitals are gone and now the YSRC leadership want to move to Hyderabad and for what?” he said
Blaming both Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy for the fiasco, former floor leader and AP BJP vice-president P. Vishnu Kumar Raju said it was a mistake on the part of Naidu to shift the capital from Hyderabad without building a full-fledged capital in Andhra Pradesh. Secondly, when the AP Reorganisation Act facilitated a joint capital for 10 years, the government should have used the time to build a new capital.
