VIJAYAWADA: YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Education Minister Nara Lokesh, holding them directly responsible for the desperate situation driving poor students to extreme steps, including a recent suicide attempt by a student at a private engineering college in Chittoor.
In a sharp rebuke shared on social media, Jagan Mohan Reddy accused the coalition government of systematically destroying the fee reimbursement and Vasathi Deevena schemes since taking office, rendering higher education inaccessible to the poor.
He alleged that the government has accumulated massive arrears amounting to over Rs 9,600 crore across 13 quarters of Vidya Deevena and three annual instalments of Vasathi Deevena — out of a total mandated outlay of Rs 12,400 crore — while having disbursed only a fraction of the dues.
Highlighting the severe fallout of the unpaid dues, the YSRCP chief noted that cash-strapped college managements are aggressively shifting the financial burden onto students and their parents, withholding certificates, barring them from exams, and exerting intense pressure that has driven distressed students to contemplate dropping out or taking their own lives.
Dismissing the government’s attempts to deflect blame or divert attention from the crisis, he demanded the immediate removal of Nara Lokesh from the education portfolio, the unconditional stoppage of college harassment, and the clearance of pending fee reimbursements and Vasathi Deevena arrears.