Hyd to remain joint capital of A.P. and T’gana: YSRCP leader’s remarks spark row
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Vijayawada: Former MP and YSRCP’s North Andhra region coordinator Y V Subba Reddy, who is also a key aide of Andhra Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, stirred up a controversy with his remarks that Hyderabad should remain the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for some more time.
Subba Reddy made the remarks at Visakhapatnam while speaking about developing the city as Andhra’s administrative capital.
Stressing that developing Visakhapatnam as the capital was prudent, as it is already a developed city and does not need a huge financial commitment, he said a section of the YSRCP advocated for Hyderabad to remain the capital for some more time.
Subba Reddy also highlighted legal complications that have hindered the Chief Minister's efforts to designate Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital. Reddy recently received a Rajya Sabha nomination and is believed to be echoing the Chief Minister’s views.
“The previous TDP government in its five-year tenure could construct only a temporary capital. When YSRC came to power in 2019, we proposed Vizag, a city that is already developed, as the executive capital considering the financial constraints. However, we could not move forward with the proposal to establish the executive capital due to legal hurdles. We are trying to overcome these issues,” Subba Reddy said.
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He added that the party was mulling over retaining Hyderabad as the common capital till the issue is resolved in the court.
The TDP and BJP reacted sharply to the YSRC leader’s remarks. TDP State President K. Atchannaidu said that Reddy’s statements stemmed from the concern for the protection of the YSRCP leaders’ benami properties in that city.
In a press release on Wednesday, Atchannaidu alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Subba Reddy and other ruling party leaders had benami properties worth thousands of crores of rupees in Hyderabad and across the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, reports The Hindu.
“Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy has properties costing about ₹40,000 crore in Visakhapatnam under fictitious names,” he alleged.
The Chief Minister wanted Visakhapatnam to be the Executive capital as the value of his properties in the city would skyrocket, but his plans ran aground due to court cases, the TDP leader said, reports The Hindu.
Atachannaidu also said that CM Jagan was an opportunist who extended his support to the construction of the capital city in 30,000 acres in Amaravati and subsequently changed his tack by questioning the very purpose of building a greenfield capital, and proposing three capitals, an experiment that did not succeed anywhere in the world, reports The Hindu.
The TDP-Jana Sena Party alliance would come to power in a couple of months and complete the construction of Amaravati, and give priority to equal development of all regions, he added.
The TDP under CM N Chandrababu Naidu initiated the construction of Amaravati as the new capital during his tenure from 2014-2019. However, this came to a halt after he lost the May 2019 Assembly polls.
Jagan, his successor, stopped the project. Although Amaravati currently accommodates the new state's legislature and executive branches, it has not been formally declared the capital.
As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad was to be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years, from June 2014 till June 2, 2024, after which it would be the capital of Telangana alone, as the city is located inside its territory.
With the deadline for the city to continue serving as the joint capital of the two states set to expire soon, prominent leaders within the ruling YSRCP have been expressing divergent views.
