Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday reiterated his commitment to making Visakhapatnam as the executive capital of the State. Addressing the ‘Vision Visakha’ Development Summit in the port city, he emphatically announced that he would be swearing in as the chief minister for the second term in Visakhapatnam and embark on his governance from here.
The latest assertion of the chief minister on the issue is being seen as a timely masterstroke, just ahead of the crucial elections, to make the entire band of opposition scurry for cover. Led by Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena, the opposition parties in the state have been opposing the idea of ‘three capitals’ wherein Visakhapatnam is proposed to be made the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital and Kurnool as the judicial capital.
YS Jagan gave a detailed account of several development projects that are at various stages of implementation, including ports and fishing harbours. He said that the Ramayapatnam, Kakinada, Mulapeta and Machilipatnam ports will become key to the development of Andhra Pradesh.
The chief minister said that he is committed in every possible way for the development of Visakhapatnam. In this context, he minced no words to convey the message to the people of the state that he would take his oath in Visakhapatnam as chief minister for the second term after winning the elections. “I assure you that after the elections, my residence will be in Visakhapatnam. And my swearing-in post elections will take place in Visakhapatnam,” he announced amid rapturous applause from the audience.
YS Jagan’s reassuring commitment to making the port city as the executive capital has assumed immense political significance. It trashed all the negative talk from the opposition parties which are shooting down the idea seeking refuge from litigations in courts.
The chief minister lamented that Andhra Pradesh was forced to part with Hyderabad as part of the bifurcation to carve out a separate Telangana state. But in the same breath, he maintained that Visakhapatnam will grow as a world-class city, far better than Hyderabad.
The YSRCP chief also sought to clarify that he bears no animosity towards Amaravati. “Supporting Visakhapatnam’s growth does not mean opposition to Amaravati. While Amaravati will be a legislative capital and Kurnool as judicial capital, Visakhapatnam will remain the executive capital,” he said. He also debunked what he described as ‘shameless narrative’ of the opposition parties and the ‘negative media’ that Visakhapatnam is being preferred in an attempt to neglect Amaravati.
YS Jagan said that, as per the current estimates, Amaravati would need at least one lakh crores of rupees for its development. And by the time, it would be hypothetically completed in the next 20 years, the actual expenditure might soar to a whopping Rs 15 lakh crores, he added. If the same Rs one lakh crores are divested to other sectors, it would be difficult even to imagine how many times its value would grow in the next 20 years, the chief minister added.