A British diplomat's eulogy of Visakhapatnam city turned out to be music for the ears of ruling YSRCP leaders, giving a shot in the arm to Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's three capitals pet project.
Senior YSRCP leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Vijayasai Reddy readily embraced the British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Fleming's praise for Visakhapatnam to bolster the state government's plans to make the port city the executive capital.
"The British Deputy High Commissioner praised that the executive capital Visakhapatnam is better than 100 world cities he visited," said Reddy on Saturday.
He expressed happiness at the diplomat's comments that the port city is favourable for investments and well suited for the southern state's development.
According to the MP, Fleming said that he feels like returning to Vizag or Visakhapatnam again and again after visiting it just once, and added that the city is "no less than" places located in Brazil and Spain.
The Deputy High Commissioner was on a whirlwind tour of the southern state recently, visiting multiple places in and around Vijayawada, including calling on Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Fleming also met politicians and business leaders.
However, his comments on the executive capital assume significance as some sections of the media rang alarm bells on the choice of the capital, saying parts of the city face the threat of getting inundated in the future as observed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Reddy slammed these media houses "for seizing on the opportunity to allegedly spew venom" on the choice of Jagan Mohan Reddy's executive capital city.
Fleming is not a new admirer of Vizag. Before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in February 2020, he appreciated Vizag's roads for being some of the best in the country.
The Chief Minister has trifurcated the capital into three: Vizag as executive capital, Amaravati as legislative capital and Kurnool as judicial capital, earning the wrath of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and others.
The TDP is opposing the capital city trifurcation tooth and nail.
However, Jagan Mohan Reddy is still operating from Amaravati for the time being.