The Centre on Friday, 22 November, added Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati to its map, as the Survey of India released a new political map of India, making a change from its earlier version, which showed Hyderabad as common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Amaravati had been missing from the previous map released by the Centre, triggering a major row in the state.
Taking to Twitter, Minister of State (Home Affairs) Kishan Reddy said, “Taking note of the issue of Amaravati missing from the map, raised by MPs of AP in the Parliament on Thursday, I took up the matter with those concerned. The error has been rectified. Here is the revised map of India.”
Replying to him, Guntur MP Galla Jayadev said, “Thanks Kishan Reddy garu for taking prompt action after my Zero Hour intervention in Parliament on Thursday, and including the new capital of Andhra Pradesh on the new political map of India. Amaravati will happen.”
The new map was issued after reorganisation of the new union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which was officially done on 31 October.
Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014 and while it was initially decided that Hyderabad would serve as the common administrative capital for a period of 10 years, former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu soon announced the state's capital as Amaravati.
When the row broke out, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the capital city, and a temporary Secretariat, Assembly and High Court had been built.
The current YSRCP government countered this, and claimed that the TDP government had failed to notify Amaravati as the capital, as no official gazette notification had been issued.
Many bureaucrats confirmed to TNM that Amaravati was not notified as legal capital, and therefore this U-turn by the Centre makes it puzzling.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)