HYDERABAD: Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President N. Ramchander Rao addressed a press conference at his residence in Tarnaka, placing Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy under fire over unfulfilled commitments to premier educational institutions. Leading his critique with a sharp rebuke regarding Osmania University (OU), Rao alleged that despite high-profile declarations by the Chief Minister promising ₹1,000 crore in development funds for the institution, a year has passed without a single rupee actually being sanctioned or released. The BJP state president criticized the administration for treating higher education as a ground for empty publicity while state universities struggle under severe financial neglect, acute faculty shortages, and stalled research programs.
Elaborating on the broader systemic crisis within the state’s education sector, Rao highlighted that the government owes over ₹15,000 crore in pending fee reimbursement arrears inherited and compounded across successive administrations. He noted that this staggering backlog has pushed countless underprivileged students into distress, forcing many to abandon higher studies as colleges withhold their graduation certificates. Shifting his focus to technical and vocational streams, the BJP chief strongly opposed the government’s controversial Government Order (GO) 97, which restructured polytechnic education and restricted polytechnic graduates from seamlessly transitioning into B.Tech programs. Rao termed the state’s formation of a coordination committee an “eyewash” unless GO 97 is scrapped entirely, accusing the ruling Congress of attempting to shut down government polytechnic institutions to seize their high-value lands for commercial real estate ventures.
The senior leader also raised concerns regarding health sciences, comparing Telangana’s policy unfavorably with neighboring Andhra Pradesh. He called out the government for paying postgraduates and house surgeons at AYUSH institutions significantly lower stipends than regional peers, despite binding directions from the High Court and Supreme Court mandating fair compensation. Furthermore, Rao spoke out against his preventative house arrest earlier in the day by Osmania University police, who blocked him from visiting protesting polytechnic students at Ramanthapur. Condemning the heavy deployment of police personnel at his Tarnaka residence and outside campus gates, he asserted that while the BJP offers firm moral support to the peaceful student agitation, the government’s high-handed tactics reflect an “emergency mindset” aimed at suppressing democratic accountability and legitimate student grievances.
