YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy vows to cancel all privatisation agreements relating to medical colleges once his party returns to power in Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing the media at Tadepalli on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy criticised the NDA government’s move to develop medical colleges under the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode, describing it as the “peak of scams.”
“The medical colleges are the wealth of Andhra Pradesh. We will not let them be sold to private hands. If the government goes ahead, we will cancel all privatisation deals the moment we return to power,” the former Chief Minister said.
The YSRCP government had initiated 17 new medical colleges during its term. Each was planned with an outlay of ₹500 crore on 50 acres of land, complete with teaching hospitals offering super-speciality services at the district level. Had the plan been taken forward, medical seats in the State would have risen from 2,360 to nearly 4,910, he said.
He accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of rejecting 50 MBBS seats allocated by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to the Pulivendula medical college. “Which Chief Minister in this country will refuse seats for students? Is this an act of a leader?” he questioned.
‘Urea shortage’
Turning to agriculture, he disputed Mr. Naidu’s claim that 6.65 lakh MT of urea was supplied this kharif, 97,000 tonnes more than the previous year. “If urea is really supplied as he says, why are farmers on the road? Why are they being forced to pay up to ₹200 extra per bag in the black market?” he asked.
He alleged that the TDP leaders and private traders had colluded to divert urea, creating an artificial scarcity and causing a scam of ₹250 crore to ₹300 crore.
On healthcare, Mr. Jagan contrasted Aarogyasri coverage under his government — claiming it covered 95% of the population with treatment up to ₹25 lakh across 3,257 procedures —with what he described as the TDP’s diluted version, which reduced coverage to ₹2.5 lakh and 2,500 procedures.
While the State had struggled to pay ₹300 crore per month for Aarogyasri, he said, it was now preparing to spend ₹5,000 crore to ₹6,000 crore annually on insurance premia for a new scheme. “Healthcare is being crippled,” he added.
Published – September 10, 2025 07:48 pm IST
