By Kavita Mistry 
Hyderabad/Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, has approved a proposal to officially name Amaravati as the capital of the state.
The endorsement comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi re-inaugurated the capital project, launching works worth Rs 49,000 crore, including the construction of the Assembly, Secretariat and High Court buildings.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led NDA government’s move is to provide legal sanctity for Amaravati and retain its position as the state’s sole capital, protecting it from government change later, given the hostile experience during the YSRCP’s rule.
The state cabinet-approved proposal to amend Section 5 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, to insert Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh’s capital will now be sent to the Centre.
The section states that from 2 June 2014, “the appointed day, Hyderabad shall be the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years”.
“After expiry of the period, Hyderabad shall be the capital of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for Andhra Pradesh.”
Though Andhra Pradesh could have used Hyderabad as the common capital till 2024, Naidu moved his administrative set-up to temporary secretariat structures at Amaravati in 2016, even as he partnered with the Singapore government and drafted plans to build the core capital.
In October 2015, PM Modi had laid the foundation for the mega, greenfield capital as envisaged by the TDP chief.
However, within four years, in 2019, all the work on the project came to a grinding halt as Naidu’s successor Jagan Mohan Reddy scrapped the plan altogether, citing the immense cost involved—over Rs 1 lakh crore.
Alternatively, Jagan, in a controversial three capitals plan, proposed to move the executive to Visakhapatnam and the judiciary to Kurnool while retaining only the legislature at Amaravati.
Though the plan never materialised because of legal challenges, including cases that went up to the Supreme Court, Jagan’s plan threw Amaravati into the doldrums.
With YSRCP discarding Naidu’s dream project, the Amaravati capital area spread over 217 sq km between Vijayawada and Guntur cities, remained neglected till mid-2024.
The Naidu administration had in 2015 pooled 34,400 acres of agriculture land from 29,966 farmers of about 30 Amaravati villages to set up the new capital.
Outraged by Jagan’s decision to abandon Amaravati, farmers who had given up their land for the capital launched a protest movement in December 2019 that went on for 1,631 days until Naidu romped back to power in June last year.
The YSRCP government tried to control the protests by using violent methods, police cases, Naidu said in a white paper he released on Amaravati in July. “The Amaravati farmers’ struggle has gained a place in history. We will do justice to them.”
While emphasising that Jagan will never be re-elected by the people of Andhra Pradesh “for his misadministration and the destruction he caused”, TDP leaders say the cabinet decision now is to assuage the fears of the Amaravati farmers.
In meetings with Naidu, Amaravati locals reportedly requested him for the amendment to the bifurcation law to designate Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh to preempt any future challenges.
“Under Jagan, there was chaos and confusion over which place was the capital. To avoid such a scenario and any problem to Amaravati again, the state government has decided to go for the law’s amendment,” Minister for Information & Public Relations and Housing Kolusu Parthasarathi told reporters.
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‘Amaravati growth engine for India’
Restarting the capital works on Friday at Velagapudi, PM Modi said that Amaravati will energise the vision of ‘Swarna Andhra’, making it a centre for progress and transformation.
“Amaravati is not just a city, it is a force, it is the strength that will transform Andhra Pradesh into a modern state and a power that will transform Andhra Pradesh to an advanced state,” Modi said in Telugu.
The prime minister said he had laid the foundation stone for Praja Rajadhani in 2015 and noted that the Central government had since provided comprehensive support for Amaravati’s development, including steps to ensure basic infrastructure.
Modi added that with Naidu’s leadership, the new state government has accelerated development efforts. He highlighted that key institutions—including the High Court, the Assembly, the Secretariat and Raj Bhavan—are now being prioritised for construction.
Stating that (TDP founder and former CM) N.T. Rama Rao envisioned a developed Andhra Pradesh, Modi turned to Naidu and his deputy Pawan Kalyan, and said that “together, we have to make Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, the growth engine of developed India”.
“After nearly a decade of uncertainty surrounding the capital, PM Modi’s presence in Amaravati relaunching capital construction sends a powerful message of political stability, Centre-state coordination and governance renewal,” said a functionary in the CMO.
Party leaders say the restart of Amaravati “comes as a major victory for nearly 30,000 farmers who voluntarily contributed over 33,000 acres under the land pooling scheme during the earlier TDP regime”.
“Their aspirations, put on hold for several years, are now being revived with fresh momentum,” said a party leader.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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