A decade on, Chandrababu takes a second shot at Amaravati as Modi does a relaunch

India Today

02-05-2025

Baahubali. Baahubali 2.Pushpa. Pushpa 2.Amaravati. Amaravati 2.
The only difference between the first two and the third one is that while the sequels to Baahubali and Pushpa followed the stupendous success of the initial cinematic offering, Amaravati 2.0 has been necessitated because Amaravati 1.0, launched with great fanfare in October 2015, never quite took off. It ran into rough weather after a change of regime in 2019.advertisementAmaravati 2.0 - The Relaunch, therefore, is Chandrababu Naidu's way of telling the world that the proposed capital city of Andhra Pradesh is rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Between 2019 and 2024, during the YSRCP regime, the then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy sought to undermine Amaravati by proposing three capitals for Andhra Pradesh. Visakhapatnam was projected as the executive capital and the seat of the chief minister, Kurnool as the judicial capital and the seat of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, reducing Amaravati to just the legislative capital where the assembly would be located. Subsequently, all works that took off at a frenetic pace between 2015 and 2019, when Naidu was chief minister, were allowed to gather dust and moss, making Amaravati look like a ghost town, with incomplete constructions and no life.advertisementMay 2 therefore, will give a sense of deja vu because the two lead stars of Amaravati 2.0, like all sequels, are the same. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who brought soil and water from Delhi on Vijaya Dashmi day in 2015, will inaugurate the relaunch of the Amaravati capital city projects, with Naidu in attendance. For a state known for its love for larger-than-life imagery on the big screen, it is no surprise that the narrative is equally filmy - the heroes coming together once again after having electorally vanquished the group that tried to kill the Amaravati capital dream. A sizeable crowd is expected to be mobilised for this matinee show on Friday afternoon to cheer as Modi lays the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore.But is Naidu making the same mistake that he made in his first innings as the chief minister of the newly bifurcated state - of overinvesting in the Amaravati vision? No, says the chief minister, who turned 75 last month. Naidu sees Amaravati beyond just the seat of administration, and describes Amaravati as the embodiment of Andhra's collective pride, aspirations, and emotions. In Naidu's mind, the real story is that of Amaravati's resilience despite the attempts to derail it.advertisementOn the anvil is an entire shopping list of projects. As part of the Amaravati capital development, foundation stones will be laid for the assembly, the secretariat, the high court, residential quarters for judges, ministers, MLAs and officials. Capital City Amaravati as a green, smart city - catchphrases Naidu is extremely fond of - will further spawn nine theme cities and 27 townships. The Amaravati master plan also includes the ambitious construction of 365 km of trunk roads and 1500 km of layout roads. The grandiose plan is to develop the 217 sq km between Vijayawada and Guntur into an economic hub amidst the matronly presence of administrative power, to create 15 lakh jobs and house 35 lakh people.Going beyond Amaravati, thanks to the Centre's dependence on the Telugu Desam for numbers in the Lok Sabha, Naidu has managed to get the green flag for many projects on his bucket list. These include projects in the defence, railways, roadways and infrastructure sectors. This is a marked difference from his earlier term, when funds were not forthcoming with the same dose of generosity and much time was lost in lobbying for Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.advertisementHaving learnt his lessons from his earlier term in office, Naidu is a man in a hurry this time round, giving his team three years to convert Amaravati from a glitzy powerpoint presentation to an actual powerhouse. In doing so, he is seeking to turn the clock back by 30 years to his debut term as chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh when he transformed the rocky terrain of Madhapur on the outskirts of Hyderabad into Cyberabad, which is now an IT hub and financial district. Ensuring that Amaravati is Cyberabad Reloaded, Naidu would imagine, will earn him the passport for another term in office.In 2019, the TDP was reduced to just 23 legislators in the 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly, with the YSRCP getting a brute majority of 151. Five years later, the tables were comprehensively turned with the YSRCP reduced to just 11 MLAs and the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP combine winning 164. The consummate politician that he is, Naidu knows a thing or two about the Andhra voter's lack of patience. It is a high-risk game Naidu is playing - he has to deliver Amaravati while making sure the rest of Andhra Pradesh does not feel deprived, like an unwanted outsider.(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Must Watch