Will challenge PPP model for medical colleges in court: Jagan

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the party would challenge the privatisation of medical colleges in courts as Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu showed no signs of backing off and instead maintained that the decision augurs well for medical education. 

He vowed to cancel the much-hyped PPP model of construction of medical colleges when the YSRCP returns to power, calling it a big scam. 

Addressing a meeting of YSRCP leaders after flagging off vehicles carrying papers containing  1 crore signatures against the privatisation of medical colleges to Lok Bhavan in Vijayawada on Thursday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said he lost hope that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu would pay heed to wise counsel and recalled that former CM N. Janardhan Reddy had to step down due to permission given to private medical colleges.

Mr. Naidu was justifying the PPP model of construction of medical colleges as a welcome move by covering up the intention behind it, which was to privatise medical education, he alleged.

Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy stated that the YSRCP leaders collected a record 1,04,11,136 signatures opposing the privatisation of medical colleges and that the party would ensure that the government did not proceed with it. 

He noted that schools and hospitals were being run by governments since independence as otherwise those services would become inaccessible to the common people. However, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was bent on privatising the medical colleges on grounds that were not at all convincing, he said. 

Speaking about the Collectors’ Conference, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said Mr. Naidu was blaming the Collectors for his ‘falling graph’ instead of mending ways wherever required in public interest.

The NDA government would be presenting its third budget in March but it has so far failed in improving the people’s living standards and developing the State. All the welfare schemes introduced by the YSRCP were scrapped, he said.