The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, informed his cabinet colleagues, on Wednesday, that the chief minister’s office will be shifted to Visakhapatnam on Dussehra this year as part of his government’s three-capital plan. Earlier this year, Reddy had announced for the first time that he intends to shift base to the port city by September.
After bifurcation of the state, Andhra Pradesh was left without a capital. Its first chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, had then decided to build a greenfield capital Amaravati. When the YSRCP government came to power, it rejected the proposal and, instead, decided to make Vizag the state’s executive capital, Mangalgiri the legislative capital, and Kurnool the judicial capital.
Although his three-capital plan is currently held up in various court litigations, the chief minister wants to make Vizag his administrative base ahead of the state assembly election. The three-capital plan of his government is currently with the Supreme Court after the Andhra Pradesh high court had directed the state government to build the capital within six months.
The state government had then moved the Supreme Court and obtained a stay. However, it will be difficult to move the entire administration to the port city just a few months before the election. Therefore, as a symbolic gesture, the chief minister will be administering the state from Visakhapatnam.
The state cabinet also took certain key decisions such as implementing the fee reimbursement scheme for the children of superannuated government employees. It also decided to extend the Aarogyasri scheme to retired government employees and their kin as well.