Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday passed a bill to repeal the Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Act, 2020, that was intended to realise the three-capital formula for the state.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy told the Assembly that his government would bring a "comprehensive, complete and better" Decentralisation Bill. "Govt is going to take back the Bill which was introduced earlier. We will introduce a new Bill with no errors," the CM said.
Earlier in the day, Advocate General S Subramaniam had informed the High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice P K Mishra that the state government has decided to repeal the controversial Act. He had informed the Court that Chief Minister Reddy would make a statement on this in the state Assembly.
Also read: Tension mounts in Amaravati farmers' 'Maha Padayatra'
The move comes when the farmers of the Amaravati region, who had been fighting the three capitals decision for more than 700 days now, and others are on a 'Maha padayatra' to Tirupati protesting against the decentralisation plan. Expressing solidarity with agitating farmers, state BJP leaders, too, had joined the march, after Home Minister Amit Shah reportedly asked them to support the farmers' demand of declaring Amravati as the capital of the state.
It was in December 2019 that Reddy unveiled his plans for trifurcating the state capital-- Executive Capital in Visakhapatnam, Legislative Capital in Amaravati and Judiciary Capital in Kurnool. The controversial plan to strip Amaravati of its sole capital status was challenged in the court.
