Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy seems to have made up his mind to shift the capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam on Ugadi or soon after the Telugu New Year. It is also likely that Jagan will not pitch for three capitals, and instead go for Visakhapatnam as the lone capital city, sources in the CMO said on Thursday.
If the remarks made by Jagan during his interaction with the representatives of the Telugu film industry are any indication, he would be shifting his base to the port city anytime in the near future. Also, according to sources in the chief minister’s office, Jagan is planning to move to Visakhapatnam on Ugadi, the Telugu New Year, which falls on April 2 this year.
Jagan had dropped enough indications that Visakhapatnam would be the only city that could become the capital city. “Visakhapatnam is the only city in Andhra Pradesh which can compete with Hyderabad or Chennai, with a small push from people of all sections,” he said seeking the support of Tollywood.
Since the film industry would preferably be located in the capital city, Jagan’s marketing of Visakhapatnam as the capital of Tollywood clearly indicated his preference for the port city, sources said. Jagan said that Visakhapatnam would become a major city in the next 10 to 20 years with everyone moving to the city.
Sources said Jagan would move to Visakhapatnam once the new districts are officially formed on the Ugadi. As the state government had withdrawn the three capitals bills and the court too kept its judgement in reserve, Jagan wanted to move silently to Visakhapatnam.
The CM wants to complete the exercise of appointing new collectors and SPs, besides revamping the IAS and IPS officers before shifting to Visakhapatnam. He is also planning to reshuffle his cabinet in March, after the budget session, which is likely to be held in the first week of March.
Jagan to pick two teams
Jagan had reportedly made up his mind to draft some of his present cabinet colleagues for the party work, which would be considered his 2024 election team. Similarly, the new cabinet would also be called the 2024 cabinet team, gearing up everyone for the big fight. Sources said that the chief minister had almost completed his exercise picking up his two teams for the next round of electoral battle. Besides, he had also kept the script ready to counter the opposition and the critics once he shifts to Visakhapatnam and begins the work with his new team.
The new team would also be in the form of IAS and IPS, besides some more advisors to be appointed to handle the negative campaign against the government.