Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan said on October 20 that he would accept the offer of Chief Minister’s post after the imminent defeat of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) by the JSP-TDP alliance in the 2024 elections, but the State’s future and people’s interests were more important for him.
Addressing a party meeting near here after giving away “letters of appointment” to the heads of various committees, Mr. Kalyan said the immediate focus should be on ways to dislodge the YSRCP from power, and that the JSP should not spare any effort in that endeavour.
He observed that the JSP tied up with the TDP with the sole objective of getting rid of the YSRCP, and differences, if any, in the process should be overcome for the larger cause.
The JSP, which began its journey with just 150 members, had its ranks swollen now to about 6.50 lakh. “This shows the determination with which JSP is working for the State and people in spite of electoral debacles,” he said. The same spirit should continue, he exhorted the cadres.
JSP Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chairman Nadendla Manohar and other leaders were present.
The leaders who received appointment letters were Padala Aruna (PAC member), Panchakarla Ramesh Babu (JSP president of unified Visakhapatnam rural district), Eedara Haribabu (training wing chairman), M. Tirumala Rao (protocol wing chairman), P. Dharma Raju (Unguturu Assembly constituency in-charge) and J. Nagaraju (Undi constituency in-charge).
Aamanchi Srinivasulu, P. Chandramohan, Ratnam Ayyappa, G. Mahalakshmi Prasad, Chaganti Murali Krishna and Mandali Rajesh were the party’s State secretaries and Ch. Sundara Rami Reddy, P. Narayanaswamy Mahesh, and M. Surya Kiran joint secretaries.
Corruption in Education Dept.
Speaking to mediapersons later, Mr. Pawan Kalyan said those involved in the large-scale corruption taking place in the Education Department would be sent to jail soon after the YSRCP’s defeat in the elections.
He alleged that the government awarded several contracts to private companies, which either had a dubious record or lacked the wherewithal to implement the given policies. When the JSP criticised the government’s policy to impart English medium education in schools, it was portrayed as opposed to educating the children in English.
He said the government laid down the condition that schools desirous of having International Baccalaureate (IB) syllabus would have to pay up to ₹12 lakh and that the government’s partnership with IB was fraught with the prospect of any dispute thereof landing in arbitration proceedings in Geneva.
Besides, if the IB curriculum was to be rolled out in all schools, the requisite teacher training alone would cost a whopping ₹1,200 crore.
Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana should give a meaningful explanation to the doubts being raised, he demanded.
