Even as the YSR Congress party leaders in Andhra Pradesh have been hinting at shifting of the administrative capital of the state to Visakhapatnam in the last week of March, there is now a fresh talk in the ruling party camp that the capital shift might take place only in April.
Senior YSRC leader and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board chairman Y V Subba Reddy, who is also the party in-charge of Visakhapatnam, has indicated that the capital shift could take place only after April.
“The state administration would operate from Visakhapatnam only after April, after the state government overcomes all legal hurdles pending in the court,” Subba Reddy said while speaking to reporters during the campaign for the MLC elections in north-coastal Andhra districts.
Subba Reddy’s comments come at a time when it is expected that chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will give clarity on making Visakhpatnam as the capital city during the Global Investors’ Summit (GIS) to be at the port city on March 3 and 4.
This made one wonder whether Jagan has deferred his plans to shift the capital for now. He was apparently expecting that there would be some positive directions from the Supreme Court on the three capitals plan, when the hearing was originally scheduled to take place on February 23.
But with the Supreme Court deferring the case to March 28, all the plans of Jagan have gone awry. He is not sure whether there would be any positive outcome of the hearing on that day.
That is perhaps why Subba Reddy said the capital shift would be only after April.
At the same time, it is not clear whether Jagan has also deferred his plans of shifting his camp office to Visakhapatnam.
Earlier reports said irrespective of the outcome of the judgement, the CMO will move there. Once it is done, the other administrative offices would also be shifted, these reports said.
“Nobody knows what is there in the mind of Jagan for now. But the conflicting comments from the party leaders will only confuse the cadre and the people,” a party source said.
