If the reports coming from the power corridors in New Delhi are to be believed, the Narendra Modi government has given a green signal for the formation of three capital cities for Andhra Pradesh with executive capital being shifted from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.
It is evident from the way the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership changed the state party president early this week – replacing Kanna Lakshminarayana with Somu Veerraju.
While Kanna, who is from Guntur, had vehemently opposed the shifting of capital city from Amaravati, Veerraju who is from East Godavari adopted a neutral stand.
Apparently, the BJP high command was not happy with the way Kanna wrote a letter to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan requesting the latter not to give any consent to the two bills – one on three capitals and another on abolition of APCRDA.
More importantly, within hours of BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Sujana Chowdary, who defected from the Telugu Desam Party, issued a statement that the location of the capital city is within the purview of the Centre and that it would intervene at an appropriate time, the state BJP issued a statement that the Centre had nothing to do with the capital city and it was the state government’s prerogative.
In any case, the Governor would not have given his assent to the two bills without getting the nod from the Centre. He reportedly consulted the Union home ministry apart from legal experts before approving the bills.
So, the BJP must have given a silent approval for the capital shift, apparently to deny any political advantage to the Telugu Desam Party. And the BJP has nothing to lose, if there are three capitals for Andhra Pradesh, sources said.
