VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday escalated his attack on the State government’s decision to develop new medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, warning that those responsible for what he called the ‘mother of all scams’ would be sent to jail if his party returns to power.
“Within two months of coming back to the office, everyone involved will go to jail,” he said, placing the remark at the centre of his criticism.
Speaking to the media after meeting Governor S Abdul Nazeer, Jagan said the YSRCP would challenge the PPP decision in court and intensify public protests if the government does not withdraw it. He submitted documents containing 1,04,11,136 signatures, collected through a statewide campaign launched in October. “This is a historic mandate. People are rejecting the move to hand over public assets to private entities,” he said.
According to him, the signatures were gathered during racha banda programmes and other outreach initiatives held across Andhra Pradesh. He added that many signatories had also provided their phone numbers, which he said strengthened the credibility of the campaign.
Jagan alleged that the PPP model would ‘transfer government-built infrastructure to private hands while taxpayers pay salaries for two years,’ calling it a threat to affordable medical education and free super-specialty healthcare. He claimed the YSRCP government had initiated 17 medical colleges, completed seven, and secured funding for the rest.
The YSRCP chief said the party would continue to raise the issue at all available forums and criticised the government’s approach to public institutions, stating that essential services such as hospitals, schools and public transport should remain under government control.
Before meeting the Governor, Jagan paid tributes at the Ambedkar statue and flagged off 26 vehicles carrying the petitions from Tadepalli.