There have been reports for quite some time that YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been secretly making arrangements for the shifting of executive capital of the state to Visakhapantam.
The exercise is said to be going on even as the issue has still been pending hearing in the high court.
Though the Centre has made it clear to the state high court that the capital shift is completely the state government’s prerogative and it had no say in the decision.
At the same time, the Centre has been giving hints now and then about its acknowledge of Visakhapatnam as the executive capital. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri indirectly indicated this in his reply to a starred question in the Lok Sabha on July 26.
On whether the Petroleum Ministry had assessed the impact of fuel price hike on the country’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the amount of tax, cess and excise duty collected by the Centre on petrol and diesel, the Union minister mentioned Visakhapatnam as the capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Though the Lok Sabha secretariat later clarified that Visakhapatnam was mentioned only as a reference city for the petroleum prices.
It, however, did not say that Visakhapatnam is not the capital city.
In a reply to an RTI query, too, the Centre did not refer to Amaravati as the capital city, but said the Jagan government decided to have three capital cities.
Now, in a fresh endorsement to the three capitals’ proposal of the Jagan government, the Indian Navy on Friday announced introduction of a new Naval ship soon in Mumbai and it would be named as “AP Executive Capital City.”
In the morning, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh AVSM, VSM, paid a courtesy visit to the chief minister at the latter’s Tadepalli residence.
Eastern Naval Command chief invited Jagan to attend Navy Day celebrations in Visakhapatnam on December 4. He told the chief minister that a Naval ship, INS Visakhapatnam, will soon be launched in Mumbai under the name of AP Executive Capital City.
He explained the progress of preparations for management of PFR & Milan 2022 to be held in February.
The chief minister felicitated Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh and presented him Lord Venkateswra Swamy Idol.
It is very clear that the Indian Navy would not have named the new Naval Ship as “AP Executive Capital City,” without the consent of the Modi government.
So, it is only a matter of time that Jagan will get his plan executed!
