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AP capital bills referred to select committee, infuriating YSRCP

Last Updated 22 January 2020, 19:59 IST

The deadlock in the Legislative Council over the two bills allowing a decentralised capital structure for Andhra Pradesh ended with them being referred to a Select Committee.

This means that the process of the bills becoming acts as wanted by the Jaganmohan Reddy government could be delayed. The two bills were debated in the Council on Wednesday, two days after they were passed in the Assembly where Reddy has an absolute majority.

“There was a heated dialogue between the TDP and YSRCP today. The bills were finally referred to a select committee by the chairman. This is the victory of the AP people. For more than a month's agitation is on opposing the capital shift and three capitals. The council noticed this public suffering and acted accordingly since such a bill would impede the state, public, farmers’ interests,” opposition leader in the council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said.

The Committee would visit various places of the state, to elicit public opinion, the former state finance minister said.

On Tuesday night, the TDP, which is in majority in the upper house, sent a strong disapproval message of Reddy government’s policy on the capital relocation by passing a resolution to this extent.

Meanwhile, indicative of its resolution to go ahead with the capital shift plans, the Reddy government on Wednesday hired former attorney general of India and senior legal counsel Mukul Rohatgi to defend it in the petitions filed in the high court of Andhra Pradesh seeking continued development activities in Amaravati as AP’s capital region. A government order directed allocation of Rs 5 crore towards Rohatgi’s services. It also provided Rs 1 crore as advance.

In New Delhi, JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, along with state BJP chief Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, reportedly met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Amaravati issue. Kalyan later told reporters that BJP and JSP would chart an action plan to keep Amaravati as the capital. Kanna and Kalyan earlier had said they would fight Reddy’s decision publicly and legally.

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(Published 22 January 2020, 16:26 IST)

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