Notwithstanding the high-voltage agitation by the farmers of Amaravati, fully backed by the Telugu Desam Party and other opposition parties, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy appears to be absolutely unmoved on his stand to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam.
There was a talk initially that Bharatiya Janata Party leadership at the Centre might intervene and stall the capital shift, as a large number of BJP leaders at the state like Kanna Lakshminarayana and at the Centre like Sujana Chowdary have been strongly opposing the three capitals plan.
Added to this, the Kamma lobby in Amaravati is also said to be working actively in Delhi to stall the three capitals move. Even Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is also said to be lobbying against the capital shift.
However, Jagan is not perturbed at all and in fact, has decided to expedite the process of shifting the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam.
He reportedly told his senior party leaders very confidently that there would be no trouble from the Centre whatsoever in his mission to shift the capital.
Highly placed sources in the party said Jagan had already presented his road map on the capital shift before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah and explained to them in detail the advantages of moving the capital to Visakhapatnam.
He reportedly told them that the Centre need not give any money for the capital works, other than regular funds under urban development and Smart Cities projects.
He reportedly convinced the PM and BJP chief that Visakhapatnam has huge potential to develop into a world class city, compared to Amaravati, which is still a barren land.
Jagan is learnt to have explained his alternative development plans for Amaravati.
“It was only after getting the nod from the big bosses in Delhi that Jagan has disclosed his plans on three capitals,” sources said.
