The Jaganmohan Reddy government is not worried though it may not be able to get 3 Capitals bill passed in the AP Legislative Council. The Opposition parties will not cooperate since they have majority in the Council. The TDP MLCs are waiting to reject the Vizag Capital bill. It is already passed in the Assembly but Council approval is also required. The only solution left with Jagan is to cancel the Council and go ahead with Capital shifting. Jagan Circar is now indirectly asking TDP MLCs to cooperate with the government by passing the bill. If they do not cooperate, then the Council will be dissolved altogether. This has led to new fears among the MLCs as adamant Jagan Reddy may resort to any extreme.

Meanwhile, the TDP is expecting a much open debate in the Council because of the opposition majority there. In the Assembly, YCP members went on obstructing Chandrababu Naidu. But in Council, the TDP expects a better opportunity to speak strongly against the bill. Now, the big question is how Jagan Reddy government is going to deal with the Council immediately. Will he put up the bill for debate in the Council? Or will Jagan go for cancellation of the Council straightaway?
The TDP is confident that their MLCs will not be intimidated. They have no doubts that the 3 Capitals bill will be defeated in the Council. The TDP members are prepared to face any eventuality including the cancellation of the Council itself.

After YSRCP government headed by Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy came to power in May 2019, the Andhra Pradesh is attracting national and international headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of focusing on development of the state, the Jagan government is busy taking political revenge on former CM N Chandrababu Naidu, shifting of capital from Amaravathi just because it was planned and executed by Chandrababu, reverse tenders for Polarvaram and other projects, just because they were awarded by previous TDP government etc.

Jagan government failed to focus on development of any sector in the state, which has now started showing negative results.

The tourism sector in Andhra Pradesh has started showing downfall after Jagan came to power.

Now, AP is no more a favourite tourist destination for foreign tourists.

According to the official data released by the government, the number of foreign tourists arriving in Andhra Pradesh during the ongoing tourism season has come down by over 14 per cent in 2019 compared to the footfall in 2018. On the other hand, arrival of domestic tourists has increased marginally in the current tourism season.

Officials of Tourism Department said that while 19.5 crore tourists, including 2.81 lakh foreigners, had visited Andhra Pradesh in 2018, the number has touched 22.22 crore visitors, including 2.41 lakh foreign tourists, in 2019.

Though the domestic tourists’ arrival has increased in 2019, the number of foreign tourists arrival decreased by 40,000 when compared to the previous year.

In Andhra Pradesh, after Anantapur, which is known for its pilgrim tourism due to Prasanthi Nilayam, Visakhapatnam is the most preferred destination for foreigners given the presence of breathtaking locales like Araku Valley, Borra Caves, ‘AP Kashmir’ Lammasingi, golden beaches and resplendent hills.

Anantapur attracted 88,316 foreigner and 51.62 lakh domestic visitors in 2019 while Vizag attracted 87,218 foreigners and 2.15 crore domestic visitors.

The data shows that there is an urgent need for Jagan government to create infrastructures such as star hotels in major cities and tourist destinations and provide air and road connectivity. The tourism department has to roll out home-stay facility and provide road-side amenities to draw the attention of the visitors.

There’s a lot of scope for adventure tourism like rappelling, rock-climbing, trekking, paragliding and surfing in many parts of Andhra Pradesh. However, the government has failed to create infrastructure near such spots and also failed to appoint any celebrity as brand ambassador for AP Tourism, said G Srinivas, an activist.

Andhra Pradesh miserably failed in attracting adventure tourists in spite of the huge potential that waits to be tapped. Recent surveys by the Union Ministry of Tourism found that out of the over 22 crore tourists, only two per cent, including over 3,000 foreigners, explored adventure spots in Andhra Pradesh.

AP CM Jaganmohan Reddy has shifted his strategy on his Capital shifting mission. In today’s historic Assembly, Jagan wants to rely heavily on his party MLAs to bulldoze his 3 Capitals plan. Accordingly, through very important leaders, Jagan Reddy dictated notes to all the YCP MLAs on taking a single line that is in favour of decentralisation. The MLAs are asked to strictly talk only on the need for balanced development of all regions in the state. The respective MLAs will be speaking in favour of their own regions development more. With this, clarity has emerged over the still unchanged decision of Jagan Reddy on 3 Capitals.

Jagan is forced to rely more on MLAs debates because of the loss of credibility to reports of IIT-Madras, GN Rao Committee, Boston Group and High Power Committee. The Hindu paper has also accepted that its reporters have not cross-checked with the IIT-Madras report about unsuitability of Amaravati Capital. All the reports of the three committees just reproduced the statements made in the Assembly by Jaganmohan Reddy in the Assembly much before.

Now, Jagan Reddy’s sole aim is to divert the attention of AP Assembly debate from Amaravati weaknesses and strengths to the need for development of all regions. The game is almost over. As usual, Jagan will bulldoze Chandrababu Naidu even on this historic bill.