Upper House stalls three-capital move in Andhra for now

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, January 23

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s move to establish three capitals in the state has suffered a jolt, at least for the time being, with the Upper House refusing to pass the Bill and instead referring the issue to a select committee.

The Andhra Pradesh assembly, where the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has a brute majority with 151 out of 175 legislators had on Monday passed the Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Bill 2020 and the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill, 2020 to establish the state’s capital at three places with Vijayawada being the legislative capital, while Visakhapatnam and Kurnool would be the administrative and judicial capitals.

But when the Bill was sent to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council or the Upper House where the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has 38 out of the 58 members and the YSRCP 9, the Bill was held up and the Legislative Council Chairman Mohammed Ahmed Shariff announced the Bills were being referred to a select committee.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is now locked in discussions with his party leadership trying to find a way out of this tight spot. The TDP-led farmers from 29 villages have been protesting for over a month demanding Amaravati be retained as the state capital. They have given up over 33,000 acres of land for the development of the capital region, a pet project of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

There have been talks about the YSRCP making an attempt to dissolve the Upper House or Vidhan Parishad as was done by NT Rama Rao in 1985. 

To do this the state would have to pass a resolution in the Assembly and send it to the Centre for approval and after the approval, it will have to be tabled in Parliament. But the chief minister has been advised against it as this will entangle the state into a legal battle. The YSRCP has had to face embarrassment in the Upper House on two consecutive days after passing of the Bills due to lack of a majority.

On the first day, the TDP had its way by getting a resolution passed by the House, disapproving the government's policies. The YSRCP thought that the Bills would be rejected and sent back to the Assembly where they would be approved, but the House Chairman pre-empted that by rejecting all requests to put the Bills to vote and decided to send them to a select committee, putting off the move by at least three months.

The development evoked a strong reaction from the YSRCP, which alleged that TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu influenced the chairman. 

On the other hand, there were celebrations in the TDP camp. Naidu, his son Nara Lokesh, a member of the council and other TDP leaders joined the Amaravati farmers in the celebrations. Some YSRCP members, however, feel that the Governor can still pass an ordinance to get the Bills through. But for now, the move on three capitals has been temporarily stalled.