Wanchoo Committe report: New capital of Andhra Pradesh should be from Rayalseema area

Vijayawada: The Wanchoo Committee report might become significant once again in the selection of a new capital for residuary Andhra Pradesh. The Committee had submitted its report on establishing of the capital when a dispute arose between Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra in 1953, when Andhra had separated from the Madras state. Following this dispute, the Union government had appointed Justice Kailashnath Wanchoo, the then Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, in a bid to find solutions to the various issues that arose during bifurcation of Andhra from Madras.

Significantly, the then Union government, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, entrusted the Committee with finalising a suitable location for establishing the new capital. This was necessitated following a dispute between Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra after Nehru’s announcement regarding the formation of the new state in Parliament on December 19, 1952. Following this, the four member committee headed by Justice Wanchoo toured Andhra state, from Ichapuram to Anantapur. Taking all aspects into consideration, the panel finally selected the area between Vijayawada and Guntur as the most suitable place for setting up the new capital and submitted its report to the Union government in February, 1953. However, the people of Rayalaseema refused to merge with Coastal Andhra and instead preferred to continue with Madras state. Their main objection was that Coastal Andhra was comparatively more developed than Rayalaseema.
After intense dialogue, the legislators from Rayalaseema put forth some conditions for the merger with Coastal Andhra. The conditions were that the new capital would be in Rayalaseema, the region would get a university, and enough water.

In this backdrop, legislators voted to pick the new capital, the choices being Kurnool and Vijayawada. Kurnool got 80 votes while 79 legislators favoured Vijayawada. Vijayawada lost by a single vote, primarily due to the fact that five legislators from the combined Madras state cast their votes despite instructions from the then chief minister C. Rajagopalachari not to participate in the voting. Significantly, seven legislators from Guntur area, led by Prakasam Pantulu and N.G. Ranga, supported Kurnool as capital, obeying the directions of Nehru. Nehru and the Congress leadership were wary that if Vijayawada was selected as the capital, it could turn into a hub for Communist parties. Thereon, politics took centrestage, with Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy playing a significant role in selecting the capital and the subsequent merger with Hyderabad state. With life coming full circle, the Wanchoo Committee report has again assumed significance among intellectuals and political circles.