BackAfter 10 years, what’s going to be Andhra Pradesh’s capital?
Choosing a location for the capital threatens to create deep divisions and could lead to violence, say analysts
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Hyderabad: Bickering has already started among leaders of the Seemandhra and Rayalaseema regions over the location of the capital of the Andhra state that will be left over after the carving out of Telangana.
The Congress party and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) that it heads endorsed the break-up plan on Tuesday. This will lead to the creation of two Telugu-speaking states—Telangana and Andhra. Hyderabad will be the common capital for a period of 10 years, during which Andhra—Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh or Seemandhra—will have to develop its own capital.
Congress legislators from Rayalaseema on Wednesday demanded that the capital city should be located in their region, owing to its backwardness. The Rayalaseema region comprising four districts—Kurnool, Kadapa, Anantapur and Chittoor—was identified as the most deprived among the three regions in Andhra Pradesh on various socioeconomic parameters by the Srikrishna committee, set up to look into the Telangana statehood demand in 2010.
“Kurnool was the capital of (the erstwhile) Andhra state, but we sacrificed it for Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh," state law minister Erasu Pratap Reddy said after a meeting of ministers and members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) from Rayalaseema region. “Now, it is not clear where the capital will be established. Our proposal is that we should get the capital, because we sacrificed."
Kurnool in Rayalaseema region was the capital of Andhra state for a brief period (1953-1956) before it was merged with Telangana in 1956. Andhra was carved out of the Madras Presidency after independence following a fast by Potti Sriramulu in pursuit of a Telugu-speaking state that led to his death.
Kurnool was decided as the capital of the newly formed state based on a “gentlemen’s agreement" signed in 1937. “The Sribagh Pact was between Rayalaseema and (coastal) Andhra leaders. They decided the capital would be at Kurnool. But this was decided during independence," said K.C. Suri, professor of political science at the University of Hyderabad.
Among the locations being considered for a new capital, for which the central government will provide funds, are Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada-Guntur, Tirupati and Prakasam. The latter has an edge as the government has large land holdings between Nellore and Ongole, administrative headquarters of Prakasam district, and between Ongole and Bapatla.
Going by land availability and proximity to Rayalaseema, Prakasam district might be a strong contender for the new capital, said Srini Raju, managing director of private equity firm Peepul Capital said.
“If you go by land availability, those are the appropriate choices," Raju said. Prakasam is located on the 1,533km National Highway 5 connecting Orissa and Chennai, and also is on the busy railway line linking Chennai and Kolkata.
“There is a need to develop a similar city on the lines of Hyderabad, using central funds," N. Chandrababu Naidu, president of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party, said at a press conference on Wednesday. He is largely credited with building Hyderabad as an information technology hub.
Naidu estimated an investment of ₹ 4-5 trillion would be needed to develop a completely new Andhra state capital. Resources such as water, power, jobs and revenue should be shared evenly across the state, Naidu said.
“It is more of an emotional rather than a financial thing," Raju said.
Choosing a location for the capital threatens to create deep divisions and could lead to violence, analysts said.
“Finding a new capital could come at the cost of other developmental issues," said E. Venkatesu, also a political science professor at the University of Hyderabad. “Sometimes it may lead to violent incidents as well within the Seemandhra."
Leaders from north coastal Andhra may pitch for the port city of Visakhpatnam, currently the second biggest city in Andhra Pradesh, while Rayalaseema leaders might push the case of Tirupati while leaders from central Andhra may champion Guntur or Vijayawada to be made the new capital.
But land in these areas already sells at a premium, which will see the land acquisition cost shooting up, analysts said.
Still, land might not really be an issue for a new capital, said geographer Anant Maringanti, director of Hyderabad Urban Lab, a non-profit organization.
“Actually, you don’t need a lot of land for a state government to function. You need an assembly, secretariat and you need room for a bunch of offices," Maringanti said.
“It can be designed in such a way that there is some centralized power in one place and the remaining function is distributed. That’s how it should be done," Maringanti added.
Maringanti is of the opinion that concentrating the entire economic and political power around the new capital would be a mistake, and instead suggests Gandhinagar as an example. Gandhinagar is the political capital of Gujarat while economic activity is concentrated around Ahmedabad, Surat and other places.
“You don’t need to force any city to serve all functions. When you do that you are making a city burst at its seams. Some functional differentiation is possible and a good thing to have," Maringanti said.
A great deal of real estate investment has taken place in Krishna, Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts in the past few years in anticipation of the creation of a new capital, Maringanti said. “Krishna, Guntur and Godavari are where the real political power is concentrated," he said. But, said Maringanti, “how these things will actually pan out is a political question."
PTI contributed to this story
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