Andhra Pradesh state govt. withdraws Three Capital Bill

Amid the ongoing row of three capital bill, the Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to withdraw the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020. The bill was intended to have three capitals for the State of Andhra Pradesh. On Monday, the Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet, which met here in the Legislative Assembly and took a decision to this effect.

Speaking in the Assembly, AP CM, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, shared the reason behind revoking the three capital bill. Mr Reddy said, “The previous government planned to set up a capital at Amaravati in an area of 50,000 acres. I love the place and I reside here. But in order to develop all the regions of Andhra Pradesh, we proposed the bill, in line with the inputs given by the Expert Committee. It’s sad that the proposal has been twisted around in a negative connotation.” He further added that the state government will revisit the three children bill and come up with a new bill on three capitals taking legal and other objections into consideration.

The bill to repeal three capital act is only to facilitate the government to come up with a proper revised bill, Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy stated in the Assembly on Monday. Meanwhile the Assembly passed the repeal bill.

It may be recalled that the AP state government had proposed three different capitals for the state, Amaravati – a legislative capital, Visakhapatnam – an executive one, and Kurnool the judicial capital. The Andhra Pradesh State Government had the bill to ensure decentralisation of administration, as proposed by AP Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Sharing their take on the three capital bill, the Union Home Ministry had earlier informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that the capital city of the state is a matter to be decided by the state government, and added that the Centre had no role in it. However, the decision was met with opposition from the farmers from the Amaravati region who gave their lands for the capital. A batch of petitions were filed by Amaravati region farmers and the daily hearing of the case is being held by the High Court presently.