Amaravati to be officially declared Andhra Pradesh capital soon; Reorganisation Bill set to be tabled in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Amaravati will be officially declared the capital of Andhra Pradesh with the Union government all set to introduce a Bill in Lok Sabha as early as Wednesday.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026 has been circulated among MPs and it comes soon after the state Assembly passed a resolution on March 28 urging the Union government to make the change.

According to the Bill, Amaravati will be considered as capital retrospectively from June 2, 2024.

The ruling TDP had been a vocal advocate of making Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh while its predecessor YSR Congress had mooted the idea of three capitals – Visakhapatnam as executive capital, Kurnool as judicial capital and Amaravati as legislative capital – which did not cut much ice with the Union government.

The Bill amends the Section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, which had mandated that Hyderabad will remain the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for a period of 10 years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

“...in sub-section (2), for the words ‘there shall be a new capital', the words 'and Amaravati shall be the new capital' shall be substituted,” the Bill said. The Act makes it clear that Hyderabad will continue to be the capital of Telangana.

According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, the Andhra government after due consideration, consultation, and planning, identified and notified ‘Amaravati’ as the new capital of that state.

“Significant administrative and legislative measures have been undertaken, besides the infrastructural developments in and around Amaravati, with the objective of establishing it as the capital of Andhra.

The state Assembly passed a resolution to incorporate ‘Amaravati’ as the new capital of Andhra and accordingly, in order to give effect to the said resolution and to provide “statutory clarity” regarding the capital of Andhra, it is proposed to amend the Act with effect from June 2, 2024.