Visakhapatnam, Oct 9 – The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) will start a one‑crore signature drive this Friday to push back against the private‑sector push for medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh. Party chief and former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led a large protest in Narsipatnam, Anakapalli district, on Thursday, rallying supporters around the unfinished medical‑college site.
Why the protest?
Jagan Mohan Reddy told the crowd that when his UPA‑era government opened 17 new medical colleges, it aimed to make medical care and education affordable for all. Now, the ruling coalition led by chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is reportedly shifting those colleges to private hands. “Private players will exploit the poor and jeopardise public health,” the former chief minister warned, calling hospitals “modern temples” that must stay public.
He reminded the audience that his government completed five of the institutions, with students already taking classes at Pulivendula and Paderu. “Naidu’s memo to stop construction and privatise these colleges shows a clear shift in priorities,” he shouted.
Numbers that matter
During his speech, Jagan Mohan Reddy highlighted that the state could seat 4,910 medical students. Out of those, 2,360 seats would be free for the poor, and the rest would carry lower tuition than private colleges. “This could help crores of families get affordable medical education and free healthcare,” he argued.
He contrasted the naxalite‑style spending on Amaravati, where the chief minister plans Rs 2 lakh crore for the new capital, with the neglect of public hospitals. “Why spend a huge amount on development when every patient still has to travel to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam? A recent tragedy at Kurupam hostel, where tribal students died after drinking contaminated water, shows how badly the government is ignoring basic medical needs,” he angrily noted.
The signature push
The YSRCP is launching a month‑long Rachabanda outreach program from October 10 to November 22. On each day, the party will mobilise supporters in every constituency to highlight the failures of the Naidu government and collect up to one crore signatures demanding a rollback of the privatisation policy.
Key dates:
- October 28 – constituency‑level rallies
- November 12 – district‑level rallies and memorandum submissions
- November 23 – signatures gathered in all constituencies are transferred to district centres
- November 24 – the documents are shipped to Vijayawada and submitted to Governor S. Abdul Nazeer
The campaign will run for 45 days, starting with a mass release of campaign posters across all 175 constituencies on Friday. At the YSRCP central office in Amaravati, state coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy unveiled the one‑crore signature banner, signalling the party’s readiness to drive a full‑scale environmental protest.
What this could mean
If the YSRCP’s demands succeed, Andhra Pradesh could keep its medical colleges in the public domain, ensuring that low‑income families have affordable access to medical education and treatment. The campaign also puts pressure on the Naidu administration to revisit its health‑care spending and infrastructure priorities.
With the signature collection driving public awareness, the YSR Congress Party is determined to bring a stop to the privatisation of medical education and to reinstate public health as a top priority for the state.
Source: ianslive
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