Is Jagan building a capital in Vizag or just a seaside villa for himself?

Political experts say Jagan is using the promise of a new capital only as a ruse to appease the voters of North Andhra Pradesh ahead of the Assembly elections and is not serious about shifting it to Vishakhapatnam.

Not a day passes without a high-level functionary of the government stating that the Chief Minister’s Office will start operating from Visakhapatnam soon. While Jagan’s chief advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy issues statements sitting in Amaravati, the current capital of the state, his aides, including ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and Gudiwada Amarnath, Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy and former TTD chairman YV Subbareddy have been reassuring the people of North coastal Andhra Pradesh that Vishakhapatnam will be declared capital very soon.

Political analysts say the campaign to shift the capital to Vishakhapatnam has been intensified ahead of the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled in April 2024.

Brakes on trifurcation idea

After coming to power, the Jagan government had decided to trifurcate the state capital to make Visakhapatnam the Executive Capital, Kurnool the Judicial Capital and Amaravati the Legislative Capital to decentralise governance.The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in a ruling on March 3 last year, however, said that the state legislature is not competent to make any legislation to shift, bifurcate or trifurcate the capital.

Despite the high court’s order, Jagan in January 2023, while addressing the International Diplomatic Alliance meeting in New Delhi, announced that Visakhapatnam would become the new capital and he himself would shift his official residence to the city. In March 2023, while inaugurating the Global Investors Summit in Visakhapatnam, Jagan reiterated that the city would become the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh and he would be moving to the city in the next few days.

Recently, leaders from Jagan’s party YSR Congress claimed that construction of a residence for the chief minister on the Rushikonda Hill overlooking Bay Bengal is underway and will be ready for shifting by September or October.

Empty promises, say Jagan’s critics

Will Jagan really shift the capital to Vishakhapatnam or is just bluffing to strike a sentimental chord with the voters of North Andhra region, which encompasses the districts of Srikakulam, Parvatipuram Manyam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Alluri Sithrarama Raju and Anakapalli?

Questioning his motives, Jagan’s critics have sought to know what is keeping the chief minister from working out of Visakhapatnam if he wants to make it the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

“Jagan is not serious about shifting the capital to Vizag (Vishakhapatnam) and that is not his priority,” says Janga Gowtham, the general secretary of Congress’ Andhra Pradesh chapter.

“If he was serious, he would have started functioning from a guest house or rented bungalow for a week per month to prove that he was committed to shifting the capital. The truth is he has not stayed in Vizag even for a day,” said Gowtham.

‘Jagan wants to destroy Amaravati’

Gowtham says Jagan wants to “destroy” Amaravati irreversibly and make it unfit for revival in case he doesn’t return to power in 2024 and is using Vishakhapatnam as a smokescreen.

“If you have perverse priority you cannot concentrate on the alternatives. Jagan’s first priority is to destroy Amaravati. There is no immediacy in his talk about functioning from Vizag,” Gowtham said.

Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan says large-scale land grabbing is being carried out under the hype of capital-formation in Vishakhapatnam.

As part of his Varahi Yatra on August 11, Pawan even visited the Rushikonda area where the chief minister’s camp office is being constructed. He has alleged that the picturesque hill has been destroyed to set up the camp office.

Wondering how a chief minister who is supposed to protect tourist spots has resorted to destroying a hill to build his residence, Pawan asked, “Does a chief minister need to wait till the construction of a sea-side resort-like building to govern the state? Are there no government buildings in Vizag to accommodate the chief minister who has been threatening to shift the capital to the city for four years?”

He said he would move the National Green Tribunal against the destruction of Rushikonda Hill to construct the chief minister’s residence.

Former minister and TDP politburo member Kalva Srinivasulu said Jagan’s plan was to demolish Amaravati irrevocably and the allocation of house sites for the poor in the area earmarked for Electronic City was a testimony to his ulterior motive. “He looks hell-bent on making Amaravati unfit for capital during his term. But all his attempts have been foiled by the courts,” he said.

The jinx on ‘capital’ projects

Projects pertaining to capital cities have been jinxed for chief ministers in Andhra Pradesh unlike in Telangana where the construction of a massive secretariat was accomplished in just one and half years.

Jagan’s predecessor Chandrababu Naidu, who had five years (2014-2019) to build Amaravati as a capital after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, failed to complete it while in office. His dream capital touted as a rival to Hyderabad ended up in all temporary structures even after the state exchequer, spending ₹15,000 crore on the project.

The jinx prevailed when Jagan assumed office after defeating TDP in 2019. While his idea to split Amaravati into three regional capitals has been struck down by the high court, his dream of shifting the Capital to Vishakhapatnam looks like a non-starter. Political observers say, at best he will have a luxurious seaside villa ready as his camp office by the end of his term.