The submission of report by the six-member expert committee headed by retired IAS officer G N Rao to chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday evening laid to rest all further speculations over the location of the administrative capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Though Jagan’s statement in the assembly on Tuesday itself was a “crystal clear” indication of his plans, his cabinet colleagues sought to continue the confusion for a couple of days more saying the capital relocation could be or could not be done and that it was just a proposal from Jagan.
But the committee’s report has cleared all the doubts and municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana declared that the committee’s report is final and it would be approved in the state cabinet.
The recommendations made by the G N Rao committee have naturally become the lead story for all the newspapers. Even the national media has given a lot of importance for the development, as it would completely change the political map of Andhra Pradesh.
Eenadu carried a comprehensive report on what the committee has recommended and how the new administrative, legislative and judicial structures of the state are going to be in the coming days.
Sakshi presented the news in a simple manner, stating that the expert committee has favoured decentralisation.
Surprisingly, Andhra Jyothy’s front page report is not about the G N Rao committee recommendations, but on how Visakhapatnam has already been getting ready to become the administrative capital of Andhra.
The story went on to explain how the government had identified Rishikonda area as the seat of administration and selected Millennium Towers as the camp office of the chief minister. It sought to explain how the government had begun the exercise of building a capital there more than three months ago.
Setting aside the practical difficulties of having multiple seats of administration in Vizag, Amaravati and Kurnool, one thing is certain that the expert committee report, which is in tune with Jagan’s action plan, has completely shattered the big dreams of Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to construct a completely new city on the lines of Singapore or Detroit or for that matter, Istanbul.
Eenadu carried Naidu’s anguish on the front page and quoted him as alleging that the Jagan government had belittled the sacrifices made by thousands of farmers. The daily also continued to highlight the agitations by farmers of Amaravati.
The high court’s notices to Jagan government seeking an explanation on introduction of English medium in government schools appeared on the front page of only in Eenadu, in tune with its policy.
On the other hand, Sakshi published the pro-government report on setting up of 5,000 health sub-centres across the state, besides a small report on the possibility of conducting local body elections in January.
The violence across the country over Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens continued to hog the limelight in the media and all the three major Telugu dailies carried the report on the front page as small or big news. Eenadu carried an anchor report on an interview with Union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy on the same subject.
The life imprisonment awarded to Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the expelled BJP MLA of Uttar Pradesh, in Unnao minor rape case also figured prominently in the Telugu dailies.