AMARAVATHI: Continuing his broadside against opposition parties, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday lashed out at Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and others, saying they will “get blood pressure and heart attack if they don’t control their jealousy” (against his administration).
Slamming the opposition parties and a section of media at a public function in Nandyal, Reddy alleged that Naidu and others are drawing unnecessary controversy over the packaging of peanut chikki (energy bar), which is being distributed in mid-day meals to school children.
Reddy symbolically gave a cheque for Rs 1,024 crore to mothers of nearly 11 lakh students under the second installment of ‘Jagananna Vasathi Deevena’ for the academic year 2021-22.
“They don’t talk about the chikki. Chandrababu Naidu and others will not say that Jagan is spending Rs 1,900 crore. They will not say that they spent only Rs 500 crore when in power. But they criticise that there is Jagan’s picture on chikki wrapper. There is no cure for this jealousy. If this jealousy increases, then they will get BP and take ‘ticket’ someday with heart attack,” Reddy charged.
Alleging that malicious reports are being carried out by a section of media, he stated that they were unable to see the reforms and thus deliberately took up false campaigning to defame his government.
On Thursday, he dubbed former chief minister Naidu and Jena Sena chief Pawan Kalyan as a “gang of thieves”.
Meanwhile, affirming that the Vasathi Deevena scheme would benefit nearly 10.68 lakh students in the state, the Chief Minister said Rs 3,329 crore was spent alone on the scheme since the formation of YSRCP government and Rs 6,969 crore towards Vidya Deevena, besides clearing pending dues of Rs 1,778 crore from the previous TDP regime, an official release said.
He revealed that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in colleges has increased to 35.2 per cent in AP, registering a growth of 8.64 per cent against the national growth of 3 per cent, it added.
