YSR Congress party government led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has firmly decided to create three capitals with administrative capital at Visakhapatnam.
And it is unlikely that there is any change in its stand, despite desperate attempts by the Telugu Desam Party.
But the biggest problem for the government is to placate the agitating farmers of Amaravati.
Notwithstanding the additional incentives it has offered in the decentralisation bill and APCRDA repeal bill, the farmers are also firm on seeing that the capital is retained at Amaravati.
Since it is not possible to pacify the farmers from the government side, the Jagan government appears to have decided to make the YSRC leaders to go into the agitating farmers, identify the neutral groups which can be mollified and then start negotiating with them over the capital issue.
As part of the strategy, ruling YSRC MP from Narsaraopet Lavu Krishna Devarayalu made a surprising visit to Mandadam village, the epicentre of the agitation by Amaravati farmers, which entered 45th day on Friday.
Rayalu sat along with the agitating women and farmers and expressed his solidarity with them. This is for the first time that any YSRC leader came to the farmers and supported their agitation. So, it was a surprise to the locals. Though they looked at him with suspicion, they did not create any troubles for them.
The YSRC MP sat down with the locals and addressed the farmers, who tried to obstruct his speech. They demanded the government to hold talks with farmers only after announcing the Amaravati as capital.
However, the MP pacified them and said that the committee would soon visit the capital region to hear their concerns.
He assured the farmers that the chief minister was very much sympathetic towards the problems of the farmers and he would definitely do justice to them.
In the coming days, more and more YSRC leaders are expected to visit the camps of agitating farmers and there is every possibility that they would lure the potential leaders and ensure that the agitation fizzles out gradually.
