The Amaravati farmers met the CM Naidu several times and urged him to initiate strong measures to protect Amaravati as AP’s only capital without giving a chance to amend the decision in future, irrespective of periodic changes of governments in the state
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has started efforts for the continuation of Amaravati as the only Capital in the future and further speed up the capital works, aiming to complete the construction in three years.
Around 29,000 farmers of Amaravati, who offered 34,000 acres of land under the Land Pooling Scheme for the establishment of the capital since 2014, had fully supported the Telugu Desam-led three-party alliance in the 2024 elections.
Naidu had promised to continue Amaravati as the Capital of Andhra Pradesh during the elections and this was supported by Jana Sena founder K Pawan Kalyan and the BJP, which instilled confidence among the capital farmers and helped the coalition have a landslide victory.
The Amaravati farmers met the CM several times and urged him to initiate strong measures to protect Amaravati as AP’s only capital without giving a chance to amend the decision in future, irrespective of periodic changes of governments in the state.
Notably, Sections 2 and 5 of the AP State Reorganisation Act mentioned that Hyderabad would serve as the joint capital for ten years after the 2014 state bifurcation. After this period, Hyderabad would remain as the capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would have its own capital. However, the Act did not specify the name of AP’s new capital -- and this gave a chance to the YSRC government to come up with the ‘3 capitals’ idea.
As then chief minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy mooted the idea of making Visakhapatnam the executive capital, Kurnool the judicial capital and Amaravati the legislative capital. However, legal challenges and cases in the Supreme Court against his plan caused uncertainties.
The Naidu government is planning to pool 40,000 more acres of land in Amaravati for the international airport. MLAs of the Capital Region, including Tenali Sravan Kumar, B Praveen and others, are encouraging the farmers to offer their lands under LPS.
During a meeting, the locals, mainly farmers, said there should be a guarantee that the status of Amaravati as the sole capital will remain so in future too.
The Amaravati farmers who had already offered lands under LPS had urged CM Naidu to effect an amendment to the bifurcation law, so as to designate Amaravati as the only capital of Andhra Pradesh to preempt any future challenges. Accordingly, the CM decided to include the name of Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh in the AP State Reorganisation Act.
It is for the Centre to amend the act. Naidu put the resolution in the recent cabinet meeting, got it passed unanimously, and sent this to the central government for necessary action.
The officials said, similar to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the area governed by the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) will form part of Amaravati.
Naidu said no power can change Amaravati in the future after its inclusion in the APSRA. “We have resumed all construction works in Amaravati and aim to complete these in the next three years,” he said.
Information minister Kolusu Parthasarathy has said the people of Andhra Pradesh had apprehension about their capital for the past five years due to the 3 capitals theory. “Now, Amaravati will be the capital of the state, fulfilling the Andhra people’s aspirations."
