Reports say that AP Cabinet did not take any decision on the controversial GN Rao committee report for forming Three Capitals in the state. It is likely that a final decision on Capital shifting will be taken after studying the report of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on January 3. The government may put up GN Rao committee and BCG reports for discussion in AP Assembly in January third week. Obviously, the rising protests from all over the state made CM Jaganmohan Reddy to hesitate to take a final decision on Amaravati today. The Cabinet meeting was held at Amaravati Secretariat for three hours from 11 am to 1 pm. There were protests demanding Cabinet not to shift Principal Capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.
The GN Rao committee suggested Visakhapatnam as the Principal Capital of AP with Secretariat, Summer Assembly, High Court bench, CMO, etc. It said that Amaravati will have Winter Assembly, Raj Bhavan, HC Bench and Ministerial Quarters. Kurnool is to have Principal High Court.
Right from morning, protests broke out in towns and cities in twin capital districts. Protesting farmers were arrested in Capital. Former Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao sat in dharna and he was arrested by the police. Amaravati farmers rejected the Cabinet decision saying that Jagan Reddy took the most controversial decision with police protection and in a curfew atmosphere. Women came out on the roads in Capital villages. They threatened to immolate themselves if Capital is shifted.
