AP govt eyeing to get bill on capital cleared early

The Port city Visakhapatnam, which has the sobriquet City of Destiny, will soon become the Capital of Andhra Pradesh if the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government overcomes the opposition in the Legislative Council and also possible legal hurdles.

The governmen on Monday brought-in a bill to give statutory backing to its plans of having three seats of governance for the state with Visakhapatnam the executive capital housing the secretariat.

Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Area, for all practical purposes, could be designated the state capital as the main seat of power the Secretariat is proposed to be located there, as per the plan outlined by the government in the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020.

While the ruling YSR Congress termed the bill 'historic', the principal opposition Telugu Desam called it 'unconstitutional'.

In December 2014, the then Telugu Desam government enacted the AP Capital Region Development Authority Act, under which the Amaravati region has been designated as the state capital.

The actual capital city Amaravati was, however, not notified in the last five years and it remains only a cluster of 29 villages.

Given its overwhelming strength in the assembly, the YSRC government will have a smooth sailing in getting the new Bill approved there, but the TDP, which is in a majority in the Council, is determined to delay its passage, if not stall it.

With 28 members, and possible support of BJP and others, the TDP could effectively upset the government plans by delaying the bill by at least three months.

Though it was rumoured that the government might bring in a Money Bill to thwart the opposition efforts, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, however, only moved a general Bill and called it historic.

The Council, as per rules, has the power to return the Bill to the assembly, suggesting possible amendments, only twice, after which it has to necessarily pass it.

As it has only two days to get the Council clearance in the current session, the YSRC is working on a counter-strategy to foil the TDP plans and get the Bill cleared without a hitch.

On Monday, the ruling party once again renewed the threat to abolish the Council, sending the opposition members into a tizzy.

Another strategy worked out by the government side is to deploy all 24 ministers in full strength in the Council to exert psychological pressure, particularly on the Chairman, to hurry things up and send the Bill back to the Assembly on Tuesday itself even if not cleared.

We can then send the Bill to the Council afresh on Wednesday and possibly hope for its passage. If not, we have to wait till the Budget session in March, a minister said.

This Bill in itself is unconstitutional. How could it speak of three capitals when there is no such provision in the Constitution? It will not stand legal scrutiny, veteran TDP member Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary said.

In the Bill, the government said the Raj Bhawan, Secretariat and offices of the Heads of Departments of government shall be located at the Executive Capital of Visakhapatnam."
The bill also envisages initiating steps to seek relocation of the principal seat of High Court of Andhra Pradesh to the Judicial Capital of Kurnool and for constitution of bench(es) of the High Court in accordance with the procedure prescribed under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014."