VIJAYAWADA: Amid the row over the capital of Andhra Pradesh, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana Monday said Hyderabad should be considered as the capital of the State as the AP Reorganisation Act had notified Hyderabad as the joint capital of AP and Telangana till 2024. Botha said since Amaravati was not approved as the capital by Parliament, Hyderabad is the capital of AP.
Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly on taking up a discussion in the House on the three-capital issue, Satyanarayana said there is still time and the legislative bodies, meant for making legislations, will discharge their duties. He reiterated that whether the Assembly is competent to make laws or not is a debatable issue.
“In fact, decentralisation was one of the recommendations of the Sivaramakrishnan Committee. Though the Centre-appointed committee favoured decentralisation, the then government appointed another committee and went in favour of Amaravati,’’ he said.
Though Amaravati was announced as the capital, the then government did not send the same (resolution) for approval of the Centre and Parliament. “This means that the (location of) capital is not done as per law. That is why Hyderabad should be considered as our capital,’’ he said and opined that the High Court should have given its judgment on three capitals considering this aspect. He maintained that as far as the government is concerned, Amaravati is the legislative capital.