chennai the demand for a second capital for tamil nadu is taking centre stage again ever since former chief minister and aiadmk founder m g ramachandran floated the idea of having trichy as capital the idea of a second capital has caught the fancy of politicians over the years enthused by local sentiments and the andhra pradesh governments recent plan to have three capitals some members of the edappadi k palaniswami cabinet are now pushing for madurai as the second capital especially when assembly elections are eight months awaythe historic city with strong links to tamil language and culture and the capital of pandyas came alive when mgr held the fifth edition of world tamil conference in 1981 now amid turmoil in the ruling camp over the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly election revenue minister r b udayakumar who heads aiadmks madurai west district on sunday passed a resolution urging the high command to make the temple city a second capital cooperation minister sellur k raju backed him saying mgrs dream was to make madurai the second capital and trichy the first capital but kalaignar former dmk chief m karunanidhi opposed ithighlyplaced government sources however dismissed such an idea it is illogical it is not financially prudent to have two sets of infrastructures for two capitals it is impossible to shift the entire secretariat to another capital for six months said a senior officer the government or the aiadmk may make clear its stand on the twocapital plan soonthose backing it argue the capital status for madurai would help the southern region develop on several fronts industries employment health and education the madurai bench of the madras hc has jurisdiction over 14 southern districts and the upcoming aiims in thoppur will add to its importancewith a crore population and expanding periphery the chennai administration is struggling to cope the city is looked upon for every administrative decision the decentralisation of the judiciary helps common man get instant justice udayakumar told toi similarly when there are two capitals development is guaranteed in the south it is really a challenge to attract investments here despite incentives being offered the special status of a capital will give it heft said the minister madurai has a stateofthe art integrated terminal that was opened in 2010 but the tamil nadu chamber of commerce and industry headquartered in madurai is struggling to get bilateral airport service agreements with countries for foreign airlinersthe opposition dmk dismissed the ministers demand as random madurai central mla palanivel thiagarajan said in my maiden speech in 2016 i asked jayalalithaa to make madurai a world class city a promise she made i made three requests including completion of the underground drainage system fixing traffic issues and restoration of vaigai which is dumped with sewage and debris they have not fulfilled their leaders vision nor heeded to my request the legislator said