Vizag Is Not AP Capital: Centre Clarifies After Goof Up

Yesterday, in a reply to a question raised by Congress MPs in Lok Sabha on July 26th over the state-wise taxes, cesses and excise duty collected on petrol and diesel since March 2020, the union government goofed up bigtime. In a written statement, union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri wrongly mentioned that Vizag is the capital of Andhra Pradesh instead of Amaravati, causing a huge furore.

The highest authority recognising Vizag as the capital city has brought mixed reactions in the state politics. While the ruling YSRCP leaders are elated with centre’s latest stand on the capital issue, the opposition leaders are seen fuming, especially since the 3 capitals issue is still pending in the High Court.

However, the centre was quick to cover up its great goof up. The union government promptly issued a fresh statement, clarifying that the “Capital” column should be read as “Capital or Reference City” and that Vizag was only sampled as the Reference City for Andhra Pradesh and reiterated that it is not the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

After initially acknowledging Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh in all the official correspondence, the union government also mentioned it in the Survey of India official map. Later, the Narendra Modi government submitted an affidavit to the court saying that the capital region is purely a state government’s prerogative.

This was followed by a response to an RTI query, where the union government had reiterated that Amaravati is the capital of Andhra Pradesh. However, thanks to its latest goof up, the centre has inadvertently accepted Vizag as the AP capital.