YSRCP blames Andhra govt for 'incompetence' in key sectors

Visakhapatnam, Sep 7 (PTI) Senior YSRCP leader Botcha Satyanarayana on Sunday accused the NDA coalition government in the state of "incompetence", pointing to "failures" in healthcare, agriculture and other sectors.

The YSRCP on Saturday released a poster for its upcoming protest 'Annadata Poru' (fight of the farmer), a statewide agitation planned on September 9 to demand sufficient urea for farmers, crackdown on alleged black marketing of the fertilizer and others.

Satyanarayana remarks came a day after the Andhra Pradesh cabinet decided to set up 10 new medical colleges under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

"No government in the past had ever handed over the health sector to private players," he said and alleged that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was favouring corporate interests.

Privatising government-built medical colleges amounts to betraying the poor, the former minister said.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the previous YSRCP government completed five of the 17 sanctioned colleges and launched admissions on time, he said.

Information and Public Relations Minister K Parthasarathy said on Thursday that the 10 medical colleges were part of the 17 colleges sanctioned during the previous YSRCP government by the Centre.

However, Parthasarathy noted that only seven out of the 17 colleges were constructed during the previous (YSRCP) government, adding that the remaining 10 colleges will be constructed under two phases through PPP mode.

The YSRCP leader alleged that the TDP-led coalition weakened the Aarogyasri scheme (which offers free healthcare to the poor in corporate hospitals) by starving it of funds, forcing network hospitals not attending patients due to pending dues.

The former minister alleged that the government failed to allocate Rs 6,000 crore for healthcare.

He also alleged that artificial urea shortage is leaving the farmers in distress and demanded a reply from the chief minister. He observed that the "scarcity exists only in the southern state not BJP ruled states".

Meanwhile, there was no immediate response from the TDP. PTI MS STH KH