YSRCP Chodavaram MLA Karanam Dharmasri resigns amid 3 capital row in Andhra Pradesh

Amid the three capital row in Andhra Pradesh, YSRCP Chodavaram MLA Karanam Dharmasri on Saturday resigned from his post, demanding Visakhapatnam as one of the capitals of state. He also challenged TDP MLA Atchannaidu, stating that if he has enough courage and wants Amaravati as capital, then he should also resign.

In his resignation letter, the MLA wrote, "I humbly submit that I am submitting my resignation to the post of M.L.A. Chodavaram, Anakapalli District to support the 3 Capitals, which was opposed by TDP. I am consciously submitting my resignation to support the establishment of Executive Capital at Visakhapatnam."

Meanwhile, several other legislators of the ruling YSRCP from north coastal Andhra have also offered to quit in support of making Visakhapatnam as the administrative capital.

Leaders of various political groups came together to constitute a non-political Joint Action Committee (JAC) to support the YSRCP government’s move of having three capitals in the state. 

When YSRCP came to power in May 2019, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state government decided to ditch the half-completed unified Greenfield capital city project initiated by the previous state government and suggested building three capitals for the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

AP Decentralisation Act, 2020 

The is an act to provide for decentralisation of governance and inclusive development of all the regions of Andhra Pradesh state. It is meant to have three seats of governance which are - Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Capitals. To enable a decentralised model of governance and to provide inclusive governance in the state, there shall be three seats of governance to be called Capitals:

• Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development area to be called as 'Legislative capital'
• Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development area as 'Executive capital'
• Kurnool Urban Development areas as 'Judicial Capital' 

The aim of the YSRCP government behind decentralising the administration by having three capitals is to give a boost to the development of the north coastal districts and backward areas.