Administration should be centralised and development

Disfavouring Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's plan to have "three capitals" for Andhra Pradesh, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said administration should remain centralised while development should be decentralised.

The state Secretariat, High Court and Legislature should all be in one place, the Vice-President asserted, adding it was for the state government to decide where it should be.

"I am telling this with my 42 years of (political) experience. Don't see this from a political or controversial viewpoint," Venkaiah Naidu said, in an informal chat with media at his family-run Swarna Bharat Trust at Atukuru near here.

Last week, the Chief Minister hinted that the state could have three capitals, like in South Africa, with the executive capital in Visakhapatnam, legislative capital in Amaravati and judiciary capital in Kurnool.

Three days later, a committee of experts appointed by the state government too came out with recommendations on similar lines, suggesting that the "capital functions" could be distributed among the various regions of the state.

This triggered protests, particularly in the Amaravati region, with farmers who gave away over 33,000 acres of their fertile agricultural lands for building the capital city, opposing the state government's move.

The farmers met the Vice-President on Tuesday evening and pleaded with him to see that the capital is not relocated.

Venkaiah Naidu, in his chat with reporters, recalled that he always stood for decentralized development.

"After the state bifurcation, when I was the Union Minister, I saw to it that various national institutions were established in different districts of the state.

That's how development should be decentralised. But my firm opinion is that all administrative functions should be in one place so that it becomes easier," he noted.

To another query, he said, "If the Centre asks me, I will express the same view."