TDP's PPP Model for Medical Colleges Could Backfire

For any party, just one issue can be enough to finish their political career. No matter how much good work is done, sometimes a single issue can cause immense damage. It can bring the entire system down. Many incidents in the past have proven this point. Now, in Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress Party (YSRC), which doesn’t even have the status of the main opposition, has been given a huge political lifeline by Chandrababu Naidu and his team. This happened when the decision was made to hand over government medical colleges to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. In the year and a half since the coalition government came into power, there has been no other issue that has caused such a political crisis for the TDP-led coalition government. TDP leader and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, no matter how much he says that the PPP model was introduced for the poor and the public, it is hard to believe. This is because everyone with any understanding of this model knows exactly what happens under it. Recently, the coalition government’s decision to develop government medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh under the PPP model has created a huge political uproar. This decision has put the coalition government in a very difficult position, and it has now become a major political weapon for the YSR Congress Party (YSRC). If these colleges are handed over to private entities owned by people connected to the government, as is being discussed, this controversy is bound to escalate. There is a fear within TDP that the damage from this will only increase.

Already, the TDP leadership has internally acknowledged that they have suffered major political losses on this issue. Recently, YSRC leader and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy raised a new argument. He questioned why the Chandrababu government, which was willing to spend ₹1 lakh crore on Amaravati, couldn’t allocate ₹5,000 crore for the construction of new government medical colleges. Many leaders believe that this argument by YSRC could push the TDP into an even tighter political corner in the coming days. At the same time, who will be given these medical colleges under the PPP model will be a crucial factor. During the previous YSRC government, 17 new medical colleges were given approval, and a proposal was made to build them with an estimated cost of ₹8,480 crore. However, during Jagan’s tenure, only five of these colleges reached the final stage of construction, while the others remained in the initial phases.

However, Jagan is now claiming that he has completed the construction of all the colleges. Chandrababu’s decision to complete them under the PPP model may have worked out politically in his favor. Despite all the statements made by Chandrababu and the coalition leaders on this issue, many believe that the damage has already been done. On the other hand, when they were in opposition, Chief Minister Chandrababu and Minister Nara Lokesh had accused Jagan of selling medical college seats and promised to revoke the government order (GO) within 100 days once they came to power. But now, instead of revoking the GO, they have decided to hand over the colleges to private parties under the PPP model. Meanwhile, with Chandrababu's proven ability to complete projects like Pattiseema, Polavaram, and Amaravati in record time, one cannot help but question why it would take decades to finish medical colleges alone. Many are now predicting that this issue will politically corner the coalition government, especially Chandrababu, in the coming days. Simultaneously, different amounts are being quoted by various people for the cost of completing the pending medical colleges, which is causing confusion among the public. It remains to be seen how the coalition government will escape this dilemma.