Harish Gilai
VISAKHAPATNAM: A few minutes after Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy hinted that the state may have three capitals with Vizag as Executive capital, debate over the decision of decentralised development started in social media platforms and Vizag has been trending.
'Visakhapatnam' featured prominently on Twitter, with many netizens hailing the Chief Minister'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 North Andhra region, especially backward areas such as Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.
People from North Andhra, especially Vizagites, welcomed the decision. Leading from the front was TDP MLA from Visakhapatnam (North) Ganta Srinivasa Rao.
A twitterati Lakshmi R opined “I am delighted to hear about the new idea from YS Jagan in AP Assembly. He said it might be possible to decentralise capital cities to improve the economic condition of AP. Vizag is fit to be executive capital, so as Amaravti for Legislation & Kurnool for Judicial proceedings.
Another Vizagite Vamsi said that 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 that the TDP and JSP are against the development of North Andhra.
Negative reactions :
However, there were a number of netizens who slammed the idea and questioned how the state could have executive capital and legislative capital at two different places resulting in a huge financial burden.
A few netizens recalled and shared videos that it was Mr YS Jagan who extended support to capital city at Amaravathi in September 2014 Assembly session.
Retired IAS officer and former Chief Secretary, IYR Krishna Rao in his Twitter said “Is 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 administrative capital is the functional capital. But when assembly is in session may be hundred days in a year, executives will have to move. Maharashtra has this system. Assembly meets in Nagpur. There will be logistical avoidable difficulties,”
TDP MP Kesineni Nani in his twitter account criticised the ruling party saying that “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 government sector you will know the difficulty of having separate capital for legislature, executive & judiciary with 300-400 kms apart! Day to day governance will be disastrous!! You will know once it was implemented!”
