Jagan revives Andhra capital row, pitches ‘Amaravati Vs MaViGun’ as central poll plank for 2029

July 4, 2026 Headlinesnews

Hyderabad: Former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s declaration that the 2029 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections would be fought on the issue of Amaravati as the state capital has reignited a contentious debate, evoking sharp reactions from political leaders and the general public.

Over the past three days, senior leaders of Jagan’s YSR Congress Party and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have traded accusations over the use of a central grant for building Amaravati, dividing the state over an issue many believed settled.

On his part, the YSRCP founder-president has presented three capitals—Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur (MaViGun)—as an alternative to Amaravati. He labelled Amaravati an “exorbitant real estate scam” and alleged that 33,000 acres of farmland and Rs 50,000 crore in central grants were being misused.

“The 2029 election will be fought on the issue of the capital. It will be MaViGun vs Amaravati. We will stand by it, and we, everybody who is in favour of MaViGun, will vote for YSRCP, and those in favour of Amaravati will vote for Chandrababu Naidu,” Jagan said Thursday while speaking to the media in Andhra Pradesh.

“We will make it an election issue and put it in the manifesto as well,” he added.

Jagan’s remarks come three months after the Centre finalised Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh’s sole and permanent capital on 6 April, when President Droupadi Murmu granted her assent to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Act, 2026.

Parliament passed the legislation during the Budget session on 2 April, and the Ministry of Law and Justice officially published the gazette notification on 7 April. The amendment took effect retroactively from 2 June 2024, marking the end of the 10-year period during which Hyderabad was the joint capital.

Reacting to the MaViGun narrative, Chief Minister Naidu dismissed the idea of the three capitals.

He mocked the term as a confusing and inconsistent stand by the Opposition in the state to mislead the public, reiterating that Amaravati remains the undisputed and permanent capital of the state.

“Our alliance, led by the TDP, came back to power in 2024, since the public denounced the idea of Jagan’s three capitals. For over a decade, Andhra Pradesh and its people were mocked for lacking a capital after bifurcation,” the chief minister said while speaking to the public in Tirupati.

“Now, after painstakingly obtaining approval from the Centre, the Opposition is trying to halt work on Amaravati. Jagan is trying to split the state into three regions, and I will not allow that,” he added.

In his address after the launch of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar Ajeevika Mission Grameen (VB-G RAM G) at Obulavaripalle in Tirupati district’s Railway Kodur constituency on Thursday, Naidu reiterated his commitment to Andhra Pradesh’s development.

“First, he expressed support for Amaravati; after elections, he sang the ‘three capitals’ tune. After his defeat in the (2024) elections, he is now chanting ‘MaViGun’ as the alternative to Amaravati. If this is how a politician changes his stance, he will be dumped by the public,” he added.

Also Read: After 2019 polls, YSRCP govt junked automated liquor supply system to favour firms paying ‘kickbacks’—ED

MaViGun, political tensions, and uncertainty

The ruling alliance alleged that Jagan was misleading the public with fake narratives and casting aspersions on the NDA administration.

TDP state president and senior leader Palla Srinivas Rao publicly claimed that Jagan’s alternative coastal development agenda amounted to a warning to investors, suggesting that anyone who backs Amaravati could face consequences in the future.

However, YSRCP official spokesperson and former MLA Koramutla Srinivasulu, who addressed the media earlier, emphasised that the MaViGun model, connecting Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, and Guntur, across a 110-km corridor, offered a practical alternative that could be developed with about Rs 20,000 crore.

“We can leverage existing infrastructure and establish economic activity. Why is the government ignoring a viable option and continuing to push a high-cost project in a region lacking population and economic base? Chandrababu should stop diversion politics and answer these fundamental questions as the people are closely watching,” he said.

The Opposition’s stand appears to have unsettled investors.

Industrialists and trade bodies have expressed concern over the controversy which they say threatens to destabilise development and governance in the state.

In the last two years since the TDP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in Andhra, the state has attracted a massive Rs 11.77 lakh crore in grounded investments and up to Rs 23 lakh crore in total investment commitments.

“We have brought Google Data Centre to Visakhapatnam, turned Rayalaseema into a gold haven, achieved railway zone for the state, and will complete the Polavaram irrigation project before the Godavari Pushkarams in 2027,” the chief minister said.

He added that the state, which he said had been crippled by excessive welfarism and lack of development, had been put on the growth path.

“If an alternative vision is fuelled by a desire to merely counter the ruling party, it will cause mayhem amongst investors globally who have now begun to feel confident about Andhra,” the chairman of a leading trade body, who did not want to be identified, told ThePrint.

“We are all for a democratic protest, but instead of the frustration manifesting itself as a vocal critique of government performance, highlighting failures or policy shortcomings, the Opposition has centred its narrative on the capital. This may not bode well for anyone,” the trade body chairman added.

(Edited by Sugita Katyal)

Also Read: Ex-RS MP Vijayasai Reddy, once a trusted Jagan ally, eyes political re-entry, this time with a media push

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