Senior YSR Congress leader Subba Reddy has made a surprising demand to continue using Hyderabad as the common capital of Telugu States until a new capital is built in Visakhapatnam. He is known to be close to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Hyderabad was declared the common capital for 10 years in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. The two states were separated on June 2, 2014.
However, the then Chief Minister had the common secretariat vacated after a cash-for-vote case involving Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. This incident occurred in 2015, when Revanth Reddy was caught on video offering money to an MLA to vote for the TDP candidate in MLC elections.
Chandrababu Naidu’s government had planned to build a new capital city named Amaravathi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had attended a function where the foundation stone for the new capital was laid. Temporary buildings were constructed for the Secretariat and Assembly in Velagapudi.
However, there has been no progress on the proposed project, and it has been mired in controversy. YS Jagan, after becoming Chief Minister, proposed establishing three capitals for Andhra Pradesh: Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital, Kurnool as the seat of judicial capital, and Amaravathi as the legislative capital. However, this idea has faced legal challenges.
In this context, Subba Reddy has reiterated his demand for Hyderabad to continue as the common capital. He has also stated that he will discuss this issue in Rajya Sabha. Subba Reddy is one of the three candidates fielded by Jagan on behalf of the YSR Congress, and they are likely to be elected.
Subba Reddy mentioned that Jagan prioritizes representation from SC, ST, and BC sections of society in Parliament. He sees this as a historic move and believes that all three candidates of the party will win. The people strongly desire that the YS Jagan Government should return to power in the state due to its focus on welfare schemes.
