How did the ‘Amaravati Bill’ come into place?

Explore the journey of the Amaravati Bill, recognizing Amaravati as Andhra Pradesh's sole capital amidst political debates and reforms.

On April 2, Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to recognise Amaravati as the sole and permanent capital of Andhra Pradesh. There was broad political consensus regarding the passing of the Bill, with even the principal Opposition party, the Congress, extending support to it. Only the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which had earlier proposed a three-capital plan for the State, opposed it.

The undivided State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014 with the passing of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. This facilitated the creation of the State of Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh. The Act specified that Hyderabad could be used as the capital by both the States for a period not exceeding 10 years, after which Andhra Pradesh had to establish its own capital.

After the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu declared that Amaravati would be the new capital of the State and moved his administration out of Hyderabad. However, the project fell into a limbo after the YSRCP came to power in 2019 and proposed three capitals instead: Visakhapatnam as the executive capital, Amaravati as the legislative capital, and Kurnool as the judicial capital.

In March 2022, a three-judge Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled that the capital could not be shifted out of Amaravati, primarily on the ground that the State lacked the legislative competence required to reverse a policy decision taken in 2014-15. The YSRCP government challenged the High Court judgment in the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP).

The SLP was pending when the NDA returned to power in the State. The Naidu government filed an affidavit in late 2024 in the apex court, affirming its commitment to develop Amaravati as the capital. The SLP, filed by the YSRCP government, is in the process of being withdrawn, in alignment with the present government’s vision of building a greenfield capital.

On March 28, 2026, the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution requesting the Union government to grant statutory recognition to Amaravati as the State’s sole capital. The resolution sought an amendment to Section 5 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, to explicitly name Amaravati as the capital and end the ambiguity caused by previous three-capital proposals. Following the request, the Union government introduced the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026.