Anantapur: Nara Lokesh sets deadline for GO 42 withdrawal

Anantapur: TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Wednesday set a one-week deadline for the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to withdraw its GO 42 in order to continue the age-old aided system of educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh.

Lokesh warned that the angry students, who immobilised education minister Audimulapu Suresh already, would give the same treatment to the Chief Minister and his ministers in future.

He recalled that former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had promised to continue the aided system immediately after coming to power. The forthcoming TDP regime would tear off GO 42 the moment it is sworn in.

During his visit here, Lokesh called on the protesting students of the SSBN College and assured them of TDP's total solidarity to their agitation. Speaking on the occasion, he said the fees for SSBN students were going up from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 and Rs 75,000 because of the Jagan Mohan Reddy's policy. How could the students of poor and backward classes families pay such hefty fees, he asked.

He placed three demands before the government and urged withdrawing draconian GO 42 within a week's time. The second demand was to suspend all those policemen responsible for lathi-charge and injuries to the SSBN students. The police broke the rules and entered the college premises. They caught the students by collar and threw them out. The students were bundled into police jeeps and beaten up, he said.

Lokesh demanded a clarification whether Jagan Mohan Reddy or his infamous advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy had ordered the police to behave so inhumanly against the students. The third demand was that the government should take back all the false cases being filed against the students, opposition parties and associations. The agitation for protection of aided colleges was justified and unstoppable.

Decrying the government's 'ruthless policies', the TDP leader said that there was no third option in GO 42 but the ruling YSRCP was saying the aided colleges were being given freedom to choose on mergers. If the institutions gave first option, the Jagan regime would take their properties only to mortgage them to bring massive loans and to perpetrate greater corruption.

He accused the ruling YSRCP leaders of setting their sights on the Rs 300 crore worth 7.5 acre of SSBN College lands in the heart of Anantapur. Similar threat was posed to 1,400 acre prime lands of Vizianagaram college. AP was the only state in the country which was hell bent on destroying the aided institutions which have been serving the educational needs of local people since 1854, he claimed.

He pointed out that former chief minister like NT Rama Rao, Rosaiah and YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Justice of India Justice N V Ramana all studied in aided colleges only. Industrialists like Dr Reddy's Anji Reddy was also a product of aided institutions. Many people rose to their eminent positions thanks to aided colleges.

Lokesh demanded stringent action against the policemen responsible for injuries on Jayalakshmi. The lathicharge was used against peacefully protesting students at SSBN College. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not giving scholarships on the pretext of Amma Vodi. Videsi Vidya was stopped. Jagan's policy was that his two daughters can study in the US and the UK but poor students would not deserve to study abroad, he said.