Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy said that infrastructure for shifting Executive Capital to Visakhapatnam is being readied. Admitting that there was delay in shifting the capital, he said that it that could happen very soon.

Mr. Vijaya Sai was addressing a meeting during campaigning for bypoll for wards under the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits on Friday.

He said that the State government is committed for decentralised development and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is committed to develop all regions in the State. Once the capital is shifted here, standard of living will improve and per capita income and employment opportunities will increase, he said. The MP alleged that the city will be neglected if people voted for Telugu Desam Party(TDP) as TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu has no interest on Visakhapatnam.

On Friday, senior leaders from all parties stepped up their campaign to support their candidates. Intermittent rains did not stop the candidates from the door-to-door election campaigning in Ward nos. 31 and 61.

Mr. Vijaya Sai and Tourism Minister M. Srinivasa Rao campaigned for YSRCP candidates Jain from in Ward 31 and K. Sudha from Ward 61, while TDP MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna and TDP women wing members campaigned for party candidate Vanapalli Gayatri Phani Kumari in Ward 31.

Later, addressing a public meeting at the end of the day, Mr. Vijaya Sai Reddy said that the YSRCP is receiving very good response from people in all the six MPTC and six ZPTC seats and two wards of GVMC in Visakhapatnam district and expressed confidence that the ruling party would comfortably win the bypolls. He said that the YSRCP has announced its candidates following all rules. “The allegations made by the Opposition party members are baseless and not true. If they feel, we have misused official powers, the opposition party members can lodge complaints with the Election Commission,” he added.

The TDP members alleged that the YSRCP has fielded its candidate in Ward 31, when there was an understanding that the respective parties would not field their candidates, where the elected candidates had died after election, to allow the family members of the deceased to win comfortably.