Anticipating cases, Andhra govt hires Mukul Rohatgi for Rs 5 crore

Besides Amaravati landowners and farmers who gave land under the land pooling scheme of the previous TDP government to construct the capital city, the TDP, BJP and Jana Sena Party are opposed to the YSRCP government’s three-capital plan. The state government has passed the AP Decentralisation and Equal Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, on Monday to establish three capitals — legislative capital at Amaravati, executive capital at Visakhapatnam and judicial capital at Kurnool. While the Bill has been passed in the Assembly where the YSRCP has majority, the TDP blocked it from being tabled in the Legislative Council where it has majority.

“The TDP is creating hurdles to our proposal for decentralised development. Amaravati will remain the legislative capital but TDP and others are misleading people. TDP is behind the court cases and PILs and we need strong defence and we will hire experts to defend our decision,’’ said Finance and Legislative Affairs Minister B Rajendranath. He refused to comment on the hiring of Rohatgi.