A few minutes after Chief Minister (CM) Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy hinted that the State may have three capitals with Vizag as the Executive Capital, debate over the decision of decentralised development started in social media platforms and Vizag has been trending.
Ayes hail
‘Visakhapatnam’ featured prominently on Twitter, with many netizens hailing the CM’s opinion that the decision would help in overall development of the State. WhatsApp was flooded with messages on how the decision could result in development of the North Andhra region, especially backward areas such as Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.
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People from North Andhra, especially Vizagites, welcomed the decision. Leading from the front was TDP MLA from Visakhapatnam (North) Ganta Srinivasa Rao.
Triplet capital
A twitterati Lakshmi R opined: “I am delighted to hear about the new idea from YS Jagan in the Assembly. He said it might be possible to decentralise capital cities to improve the economic condition of A.P. Vizag is fit to be the Executive Capital, so as Amaravti for Legislation & Kurnool for Judicial proceedings.”
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Another Vizagite Vamsi said the concept of three capitals may help backward areas of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, if the implementation is done in a proper and transparent manner.
A few users also slammed Naidu and Jana Sena chief K. Pawan Kalyan for criticising Jagan Mohan Reddy’s idea. They said the TDP and JSP are against the development of North Andhra.
Naysayers too abound
However, there were a number of netizens who slammed the idea and questioned how the State could have an Executive Capital and Legislative Capital at two different places which will result in a huge financial burden.
A few netizens recalled and shared videos that it was Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy who extended support to set up the State capital at Amaravati during the September 2014 Assembly session.
Functionally divided capital not ok
Retired IAS officer and former Chief Secretary, I.Y.R. Krishna Rao in his Twitter said: “Is a functionally divided capital a better alternative? May not be. Small Administrative Capital, with focus on Vizag as financial centre like Mumbai, greater decentralisation, regional development covering all regions may be a better idea.”
In another Tweet, he said: “I can understand Vizagites’ happiness since the Administrative Capital is the functional capital. But when the Assembly is in session, may be for hundred days in a year, executives will have to move. Maharashtra has this system. Assembly meets in Nagpur. There will be avoidable logistical difficulties.”
A la Das Capital?
TDP MP Kesineni Nani in his twitter account criticised the ruling party saying, “If Andhra Pradesh which has five crore population needs three capital cities, how many does a State like Uttar Pradesh having 20 crore population should have? 12?”
Another twitterati Tharun said: “If you work in the government sector you will know the difficulty of having separate capitals for Legislature, Executive & Judiciary 300-400 km apart! Day to day governance will be disastrous!! You will know once it is implemented!”