Minister for Industries, Commerce and IT, Gudivada Amarnath, said that they were not changing the rules of the AP Capital Region Development Authority 2014. He said the present government was only adding two more places as capital.

He said that the previous TDP government had decided on Amaravati as the capital, while the present government was adding Kurnool and Visakhapatnam also as capitals. “We are not saying that Amaravati is not the capital. It will continue to be the legislative capital,” the minister said.

The Minister further said that the people of Amaravati were insisting upon Amaravati to be the only capital and they don’t want other places to share the capital city benefits. He said that the government is committed to develop three capitals for the state doing justice to the three regions. He further added that the government would introduce the decentralisation bills once again either in the present session or the sessions to be held later.

The Minister recalled the statement of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Assembly about the capitals and decentralisation of administration. He said that Visakhapatnam would require about Rs 10,000 crore to make it a competitive city in five years on par with Hyderabad or Chennai or Bengaluru in the neighbourhood.

On the other hand, if Amaravati has to be developed it would require Rs 10 lakh crore and would take a couple of decades to become a city and another couple of decades to compete with the capital cities of the neighbouring states.

He emphasised the need to have a better and competitive city for the state now to attract investments now than wait for decades spending on Amaravati. He said that the state government is committed to developing the state and would go for the three capitals at any cost.