Naidu to shift base to Vijayawada, opens camp office

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu appears set to shift his base from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, where he opened his camp office on Monday.

Amid chanting of Vedic hymns by priests, Naidu stepped into the building and sat on his chair.

Naidu's cabinet colleagues, leaders of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) including his brother-in-law and popular actor N. Balakrishna were present on the occasion.

The camp office was to be inaugurated by Naidu on Saturday after performing 'bhoomi puja' for new state capital Amaravthi in Guntur district but the programme was postponed as he could not reach Vijayawada on time and missed the 'mahuratam'.

TDP sources said Naidu may spend three days and if necessary five days in a week in Vijayawada.

As the new capital is being built near here, there have been demands from various quarters that the state government shift it base to Vijayawada at the earliest.

While shifting of the entire administration may not be possible in near future in view of the practical difficulties, Naidu decided to have a camp office here to make a beginning. This will help him run the affairs from a place close to the upcoming capital and also facilitate his visits to various places in Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

The camp office was inaugurated on a day when Naidu completed one year in office. A public meeting is scheduled in Guntur on Monday evening to mark the occasion.

Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated on June 2 last year to carve out Telangana state. Hyderabad has been declared as the common capital of the two states for a period not exceeding 10 years.