Apparently yielding to criticism from his political rivals and pundits that he had chosen an inauspicious muhurtham to lay foundation stone for the new capital of AP Amarvathi, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday took a U-turn and said the foundation stone for the capital city will be laid only after Dasara.

Naidu told media that what would be done on June 6 was only bhoomi pooja and not the real foundation stone.

“The June 6 ceremony will be a low-key affair and it is just a formality. The actual foundation ceremony would be done after Vijaya Dasami, when we would invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other prominent dignitaries. It would be a historic function,” Naidu said.

On the temporary capital, too, the Chief Minister changed his stand. He said he had not set any deadline for the shifting of the offices to the temporary capital from Hyderabad.

"There are several constraints. We will do it slowly. Since the Secretariat is in Hyderabad and if we shift the other offices, coordination among the officers will turn out to be a major problem," he added.