Why Kesarapalli IT Park — not Amaravati — will host Chandrababu Naidu’s swearing-in ceremony

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu is set to be sworn in at exactly 11:27 am on June 12.

With Hyderabad no longer the capital of Andhra Pradesh — the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 stated that the city will be the “common capital” of AP and Telangana for a period “not exceeding ten years” — the swearing-in ceremony was initially scheduled to take place in Amravati, the new state capital, on June 9.

But it will now be held near the Kesarapalli IT Park at Gannavaram in Krishna District. Here is why.

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Why Kesarapalli IT Park?

Inaugurated by former Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in 2006, the Kesarapalli IT Park is built with the intention of turning Vijaywada into an IT hub. In 2010, Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah (who succeeded Reddy upon his demise in a helicopter crash) inaugurated ‘Medha’, the first of five planned towers in the Gannavaram area close to the airport.

The reasons for the shift appear to be purely logistical. Multiple leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and representatives from the central government, the BJP, and other political parties are expected to be present at the ceremony. The IT Park is located close to the Vijayawada International Airport (less than 1.5 kilometers) and is less than 20 kilometers from Vijaywada city.

In addition, the IT Park ground where the swearing-in is set to take place has a seating capacity of 50,000 people, covering around 18-20 acres of land, which may prove necessary. Thousands of TDP, Jana Sena Party (JSP), and BJP supporters are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony, as reported by The Indian Express.

On the other hand, Amaravati is nearly 35 kilometers from the Vijaywada airport which raises a host of logistical concerns considering the political stature of those expected to attend. If the swearing-in was to be held in Amaravati, at least six helipads would have to be built, to facilitate movement from the airport to Amravati. Moreover, Amravati has seen little development in the past five years.

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Why is Amravati ‘not ready’?

Naidu himself laid the city’s foundation stone in 2015. Spread over 217 sq km of land, the Amaravati city was the TDP chief’s pet project, given Andhra Pradesh lost Hyderabad — a city which Naidu helped develop into one of India’s major IT hubs — to Telangana in the bifurcation.

But after Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress party secured a landslide victory in the 2019 state assembly elections, it saw little progress. Instead of doubling down on Amravati’s development, Jagan came up with a three-capital formula — Visakhapatnam would be the “executive capital”, Amaravati would be the “legislative capital”, and Kurnool would be the “judicial capital”.

Also Read | Chandrababu’s return to Andhra helm set to reignite Amaravati capital dream

Jagan’s freeze on the development of Amravati was devastating for farmers, who had handed over their land on being promised prime real estate in the new city, as well as developers connected to Naidu, who were looking to make a quick buck.

Over the past five years, property prices in Amravati tanked to as low as Rs 3,500 per square yard. Naidu’s return to power, however, promises better times for the city. “The prices now are estimated to be Rs 45,000 per sq yard. The capital region is going to be the most sought-after real estate destination in Andhra Pradesh,” Subhakar Vemulapalli, a real estate agent from Tullur, told The Indian Express.

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In March 2022, the AP High Court directed the then YSRCP government that Amaravati should be developed as the state capital. The Jagan government subsequently challenged this order in the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.