To make Amaravati Jagan-proof, Chandrababu Naidu seeks legal sanctity for city

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a key ally of the ruling coalition at the Centre, has sought a legal sanctity through an Act of Parliament for Amaravati, the state’s new capital city which had been scrapped by his predecessor and bete noire YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The demand has come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to relaunch the construction of Amaravati on Friday.

“We are trying to get legal sanctity for Amaravati so that the state of Andhra Pradesh gets a permanent capital,” Andhra Pradesh municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana told ET.


Amaravati, Naidu’s pet project, was conceived right after the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh in 2014. Though Naidu had declared it the new capital, Amaravati was never formally notified. As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad was the common capital.

Section 5 (1) of the Act says, “On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years.” Section 5 (2) says Hyderabad will be the capital of Telangana after 10 years and Andhra Pradesh will have a new capital. When the YSRCP government under Reddy came to power, he mooted the idea of three capitals for Andhra Pradesh.

Now, Naidu wants to ensure that this is not repeated in case a new government assumes power. According to people in the know, the state government has requested the Centre to notify Amaravati through a legislation.

“The 10-year time period of Hyderabad as a shared capital ended in 2024. The new capital will need to be notified through an Act of Parliament,” said a senior state government official, who did not wish to be identified.

Article 3 of the Indian Constitution gives Parliament the power to alter the boundaries of existing states and form a new state. However, it is silent on the notification of a new capital.

The Naidu government has sought the law ministry’s intervention in finding a way to notify this as Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act is a central legislation passed by Parliament, said the people cited earlier.

When the Reddy administration moved to repeal the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Authority Act, the farmers who had given their land approached the high court. In this case, the high court ruled that the state government did not have any powers to notify the capital city. The Reddy administration challenged the high court decision in the Supreme Court in 2022. The apex court’s decision is pending.