The sudden decision of the YSR Congress party government on Tuesday to shift the Republic Day celebrations this year from Visakhapatnam to Vijayawada has come as a big surprise to many.
According to the original plan, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is supposed to conduct the Republic Day celebrations at Rama Krishna Beach road in Visakhapatnam at 9 am on January 26.
It was intimated to the media that State Governor Bishwa Bhushan Harichandan would unfurl the national flag and the chief minister and all his cabinet colleagues will attend the ceremony.
Apparently, Jagan wanted to send the message to the people from here that the administrative capital would be running from Visakhapatnam hereafter. The district authorities have already made all the arrangements for the Republic Day parade and cultural programmes by students and other groups.
The police, too, undertook stringent security arrangements and even conducted trial runs in R K Beach road. The traffic police also prepared a road map for traffic diversions on that day.
However, on Tuesday morning, instructions came from the state government to cancel the Republic Day celebrations at Visakhapatnam and the venue has been shifted to Indira Gandhi municipal stadium in Vijayawada.
As a result, the Vijayawada municipal authorities rushed to the stadium to start the preparations for the R-day fete. Since the time is very short, they are hurrying through the programme and also preparation of invitees list.
It is not known why the government took the sudden decision. A section of media has speculated that the change of venue could be due to security reasons following intelligence input about a possible terror attack on Visakhapatnam.
It is also being speculated that the Jagan government is of the view that holding Republic Day celebrations was only to dilute the tense atmosphere in Vijayawada and Amaravati areas.
