Will Chandrababu be able to build a capital city that matches up to international standards as he repeatedly claims? This question perhaps would decide Chandrababu Naidu's political future.

The people of Andhra Pradesh without doubt are nursing a deep hurt at losing Hyderabad, in whose development they played no mean part. And the popular yearning is for a city that can match the historic yet ever-dynamic Hyderabad city.

Selling mere dreams

However, establishing a Hyderabad-like city is a tall order for Chandrababu. Hyderabad grew into what it was over a period of 450 years. King after king nursed the city and populations after populations made this their home city.

Chandrababu does not have the land nor the money to build a capital of that order, let alone Singapore. For a state that suffers from congenital fiscal deficit, ambitious projects, might sound attractive, but are impossible to implement.

Where will the capital be built?

Even the location of the capital city is a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma. There are claims from every concievable place that theirs' is the most suitable place. How Chandrababu approaches the issue remains to be seen. As of now he appears to be veering towards the demands of his core constituency, but that might lead to unrest and deep discontent in other places.

Three models to choose from:

There are three models for setting up the capital city:

Raipur, Gandhinagar, Islamabad Model: The governments had allocated lands and set up an exclusive capital zone complete with all facilities. They are sui generis cities.

Dispur Model: When Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1971, Assam had lost the capital city of Shillong. It hurriedly built temporary sheds and had set up the capital. The temporary capital continues till date.

Devolution Model: Have a decentralised capital with developmental foci in multiple locations. This is what the K Sivaramakrishnan Expert Committee is suggesting. It recommends a decentralised capital in 13-14 main locations and 3-4 big cities so opportunities for growth are provided to Vizag, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Kurnool too.

In fact, YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has lambasted Chandrababu government of "selling dreams" without any concern for the ground realities. If Babu continues to peddle dreams without acting upon them, he would have to face a deeply disenchanted voter in 2019.

-Raka@Sakshipost