Renaming NUHS is insult to NTR: Purandeswari

Visakhapatnam: On one side, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is stating that he has immense respect for former Chief Minister of AP NT Rama Rao, while he is dropping the name of NTR University of Health Sciences (NUHS) on the other, pointed out BJP national general secretary Daggubati Purandeswari.

Responding to the renaming exercise at a media briefing held here on Thursday, she demanded an explanation from the Chief Minister for replacing the NUHS with YSR University of Health Sciences. "Even as several NTR schemes have been replaced with other names, most of them continue to be implemented. Renaming the NUHS is certainly considered a mark of insult and disgrace to NTR," she asserted.

Pointing out at anti-people policies of the YSRCP government, Purandeswari said, there was no conducive ambience for industrialists in AP and the state had miserably failed in attracting investors. "Through 'praja poru yatra,' we wanted to bring out the lapses of the state government in the past three years and make people understand the ground realities. AP has become debt-ridden to the tune of Rs 2 lakh crore," she mentioned.

Further, Purandeswari said that the SC/ST Sub Plan funds have been diverted. About the three-capital move, she wondered why the state government is stepping back from its initial acceptance of making Amaravati as capital. Unlike other states, Purandeswari said, AP stands top in the number of cases filed against the government.

As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday celebrations that would continue till October 2 under the banner of 'seva pakhwada,' Purandeswari said a number of service-oriented activities would be carried out.

Condemning the renaming move of NUHS, BJP state vice-president P Vishnu Kumar Raju said the BJP took strong objection to it. "Will people accept if the state gets rechristened as Jagan Andhra Pradesh, Rushikonda in Vizag as 'Jagankonda,' RK Beach as 'Jagan Beach,' and so on and so forth? The state has never gone through such anti-democratic rule thus far," he alleged.

The former MLA said that people need to think wisely and stay alert. "It is not rational to go for a renaming-spree like the YSRCP government. For sure, Jagan Mohan Reddy will not come back to power in the 2024 polls," Vishnu Kumar Raju added.