'Declaration of Amaravati as Capital unconstitutional': YSRCP MLA writes to Prez Kovind

Amid uncertainty over Andhra's new capital(s), a senior YSR Congress Party leader has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, stating, the declaration of "Amaravati" as the capital was unconstitutional and violates the fundamental constitutional principles. YSRCP MLA Dharmana Prasada Rao in his letter accused the previous Chandrababu Naidu government of overriding an expert committee recommendation to declare "Amaravati" as the new capital. 

"An expert committee headed by Sivaramakristna was appointed by the Government of India only to study various alternatives regarding new capital under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014. The report was neither discussed in the Cabinet meeting nor in the Legislative Assembly and Council. The then Government of Andhra Pradesh declared 'Amaravati' as new capital without considering the recommendations of the report by the expert committee," the letter said.

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Violates constitutional principle

The Srikakulam MLA stated that naming Amaravati as the capital violated the fundamental constitutional principle of "Justice" and "Equality of Opportunity". Rao added that the decision of Amaravati was not notified by any official gazette or by any Government Order.

“It is unfortunate that constitutional functions are not conducted from ‘Common Capital Hyderabad’ and are run from a place which does not have legal sanctity. The expert committee in its report clearly stated that “the committee does not consider a single large capital city as a feasible option available to AP.”

READ | Andhra Pradesh Police Urges People Not To Stage Protest In Amaravati Capital Region

Revisiting TDP govt's decision

“The current government of AP, following the recommendation of the Expert Committee is seriously thinking about revisiting the decision and had appointed a High-Level Committee to study the reports of GN Rao Committee and Boston Consulting Group,” Dharmana Prasada Rao said. The YSRCP government is considering to implement recommendations of distribution of various capital functions to all three regions of the State, he added.

READ | Chandrababu Naidu Meets Kin Of Farmers Who Died In Amaravati Protests

3 capitals to develop backward regions

The leader explained that the reason behind the three capital proposals is to economically develop those backward regions. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had indicated on December 17 that Andhra Pradesh could have decentralised capitals – Amaravati as the legislative capital with the state assembly, Kurnool in Rayalaseema as the judicial capital with the high court, and Visakhapatnam in Uttar Andhra as the administrative capital.

(With ANI inputs)

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