AP affidavit on bifurcation to affect capital shift?

[Anta Assamey]

The latest affidavit filed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh in the Supreme Court impleading in the case filed by former Congress MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar on the hasty bifurcation of the combined AP is expected to have its impact on the three capitals’ plan of the government.

Vundavalli filed the petition way back in 2014, stating that the bifurcation was not done in a scientific manner, but in a hasty way, thereby affecting the interests of the residuary Andhra Pradesh.

Similar petitions were filed by as many as 28 various other petitioners including rebel YSR Congress party MP K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju and former joint director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) V V Lakshminarayana.

Now, the Andhra Pradesh government filed its affidavit, supporting the arguments of Vundavalli and others that the bifurcation act was passed without taking into many issues and the faulty act should be amended to suit the interests of the residuary AP.

The Supreme Court has admitted the petitions and taken up the hearing. Though the court might not undo the bifurcation, it is expected to rectify the certain flaws in the bifurcation act and ask the Centre to amend the act accordingly.

One of the issues Andhra Pradesh government might raise before the Supreme Court is to give full powers to the state government to decide on the location of the state capital. 

This is in the wake of the clarification given by the Centre in parliament recently that Amaravati was chosen as the capital of AP strictly as per the AP Reorganisation Act. 

The high court also struck down the three capitals’ plan of the Jagan government based on this central legislation, which called for “capital” for AP, rather than “capitals.”

So, if the Supreme Court takes up the hearing on the AP bifurcation act, the state might insist on these changes, so that it can overcome the legal hurdles on the formation of three capitals, sources said.