Uncertainty looms for Andhra as Hyderabad set to cease to be joint capital

Amaravati: As Hyderabad is all set to cease to be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on June 2, the fate of a capital city and its geographical location for the residual Andhra Pradesh hangs in balance even 10 years after the bifurcation.

While matters such as apportioning of public assets worth up to Rs 1.4 lakh crore are still pending to be resolved, Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSRCP and principal opposition TDP continue to toe their respective positions of a single and multiple capital cities.

Enacted on March 1, 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 mandated that Hyderabad shall be the common capital for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ‘for such period not exceeding 10 years’, and accordingly, effective June 2, 2024, Hyderabad will be the capital city only for Telangana.

Though the legislation envisages a new capital and makes the 10-year deadline clear, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel for Andhra Pradesh, considering the conflicting stances and initiatives of the two dispensations in the past ten years.

When YSRCP chief and incumbent Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy captured power in 2019, dislodging the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP regime (2014-19), he shattered the Amaravati capital dreams of his predecessor by coming up with the proposal to have three capital cities. Championing decentralisation and welfare-centric governance, Reddy projected Amaravati as the legislative capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and the port city of Visakhapatnam the executive capital, from where he would function.

During the months that preceded the May 13 simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Reddy had promised multiple times that he would relocate to Visakhapatnam but failed to keep his word, and according to the YSRCP it was owing to legal tangles. Matters related to the three capital cities proposal are pending before the Supreme Court.

Amidst this scenario, IPS officer-turned-politician, V V Lakshminarayana said Andhra Pradesh should demand the Centre to continue with the ongoing arrangement of Hyderabad as joint capital till finalisation of the capital city.

Lakshminarayana, a former CBI joint director, launched a new political party, Jai Bharat National Party last year. His party fought polls and he, a retired Additional Director General of Police, contested from Visakhapatnam North Assembly constituency.