AP CM eyeing May 26 for shifting executive base to

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has set May 26 as the likely date for shifting base to Visakhapatnam, which he wants to be the executive capital of the state.

If everything goes per the government's plan, the state Secretariat and offices of the heads of departments will be shifted to Visakhapatnam from Amaravati and the executive capital functions will start from the port city on May 26, highly-placed official sources said on Friday.

Officers and staff of the Secretariat have already been informed about the government plans and, accordingly, the executive committee of the AP Secretariat Association asked its members to be ready for the shift, the sources said.

The AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020 intended to fix three capitals for the state was stuck at a legislative roadblock but the government remained confident that it would be cleared at the end of the statutory four-month period when it would be deemed to have become the law.

The state assembly had passed the bill but the Legislative Council stalled it on January 22 as the Chairman referred it to a select committee for further scrutiny.

The select committee has not been constituted till date even as the Council has only a month more to return the Bill to the assembly.

The select committee is an internal affair of the Council. Whether or not it is constituted or whether it has scrutinised the bill or not is immaterial and as per rules the Bill will deemed to have been returned to the assembly at the end of the three month period," a top source in the Chief Ministers Office explained.

Once the assembly passes the same bill again, the Council will have only a further one months time to pass it or not, then it would automatically become a law, the source added.

As the statutory period ends by May 22, the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020 will have become the law by then.

Accordingly, the Chief Minister has decided to shift base and start functioning from Visakhapatnam from May 26, the CMO source said.