Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has triggered yet another political debate with his unusual proposal on the state capital issue.
He suggested creating a new capital corridor by combining Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur, and naming it “MAVIGUN.”
The idea, which Jagan presented during a press conference on Wednesday, quickly became the subject of sharp political criticism and widespread trolling on social media.
Online platforms were flooded with memes, jokes, and sarcastic comments, with users creating similar acronyms using different city names and mocking Jagan’s sudden pitch for an “alternative capital model.”
Even within YSRCP circles, the proposal reportedly came as a surprise.
Party leaders were said to be wondering who might have suggested the “MAVIGUN” idea, as Jagan appeared well prepared to explain this “Plan B” to the media.
However, party sources indicated that it was likely Jagan’s own idea.
“There is no indication that he discussed this concept with party leaders or at any party forum. Even senior leaders had no clue and were taken by surprise,” a source said.
A similar situation had reportedly occurred in December 2019, when Jagan proposed the three-capitals model. At that time too, many party leaders were unaware of the plan.
“Until then, he had never spoken about dropping Amaravati as the administrative capital or promoting Visakhapatnam as the new capital. It was not even discussed in the state cabinet,” a party leader recalled.
With this latest “MAVIGUN” proposal, which some critics describe as confusing and impractical, Jagan appears to be trying to reopen the debate on the capital issue and raise questions about the future of Amaravati, especially if he returns to power in 2029.
The proposal has raised eyebrows as it comes years after the capital issue had already gone through multiple rounds of legislative, administrative, and judicial scrutiny.
An analyst pointed out that if Jagan truly believed in such a coastal-central urban cluster model, he could have presented it much earlier; either before the Sivaramakrishnan Committee in 2014 or during his tenure as Chief Minister between 2019 and 2024.
For the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led coalition, the “MAVIGUN” episode has provided fresh ammunition to portray Jagan as politically inconsistent and out of touch with public sentiment.
