Bill to declare Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh's capital in works

New Delhi: The Centre is in the process of finalising an amendment bill to officially declare Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh, according to sources.

Declaring Amaravati as the capital has been a longstanding demand of the state's chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, whose TDP is a key NDA ally. The proposal was previously shelved by his predecessor, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The people cited earlier said the Centre will move amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to give legal sanctity to Amaravati, which is Naidu's dream project.


Naidu has been nudging the Centre to declare the city as the capital to stonewall any future attempts by Reddy or other chief ministers to shift the capital. Between 2019 and 2024, Reddy, as chief minister, had floated the idea of three capitals for Andhra, with Visakhapatnam as the executive or financial capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital.

According to sources, an amendment is likely to be brought in Section 5 (2) of the Act. The amendment will add Amaravati as the new capital, sources said.

ET was the first to report in its May 2 edition about Naidu's move to seek legal sanctity for the new capital city. "The legal sanctity is possible only after a gazette notification. This will take place after Parliament approves the amendment bill," a highly-placed source told ET. Naidu, sources said, has conveyed to the senior leadership of BJP that the amendment bill is "crucial" and should be expedited.

Officials said the amendment has got the nod of the law ministry.