Visakhapatnam will be Andhra Pradesh’s capital: Jagan Mohan Reddy

Visakhapatnam: The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy, announced on Tuesday that Visakhapatnam will be the new capital of the state.

To make the decision sound certain, Reddy said he himself would be moving to Visakhapatnam in the months to come.

Inviting people to the new capital, he announced that the government will hold an investment summit on March 3 and 4 in Visakhapatanam.

"Here I am, to invite you, to Visakhapatnam, which is going to be our capital in the days to come," he said adding that, "I myself will be shifting over to Visakhapatnam in the months to come."

The shift of capital comes nine years after the Telangana was formed from Andra Pradesh with Hyderabad as capital.

In 2015 chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of TDP alliance declared that Amaravati in Vijayawada Guntu region would be the new capital.

Five years later in 2020, the state chose three capital cities: Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, before eventually settling for Amaravati of them.

However, Amaravati frequently got mentioned in relation to a land scam which Reddy’s YSRCP party linked to former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Reddy's party earlier alleged that people who were told in advance about the project bought land in the area and gained benefit.

The coastal city of Visakhapatnam, also called Vizag, is the most populous city in Andhra Pradesh.

Visakhapatnam has overtaken Chennai being the second largest city on the east coast of India.