NTR, Chandranna back as TDP-led Andhra govt goes on name changing spree

Amaravati, July 25 : From NTR Health University to YSR Health University to now back to NTR Health University. The name changing game is never ending in Andhra Pradesh.

The change of guard has led to a spree of change of names of government schemes.

NTR and Chandraanna have replaced YSR and Jagananna with the names of popular welfare schemes.

The NDA government has now renamed Dr. YSR University of Health Sciences (YSRUHS) located in Vijayawada city as NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS).

Dr YSR University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday to change the name.

Minister for Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education, Y Satya Kumar moved the Bill and it was supported by MLAs of the TDP and its allies Jana Sena and the BJP.

The Bill was passed in the absence of the MLAs of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) whose government had replaced NTR with YSR in 2022.

Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who was popularly known as YSR, was the chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh between 2004 and 2009. He was the father of YSRCP founder YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who lost power recently to the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance.

After TDP lost power in 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy had renamed the schemes implemented by the previous government.

The new schemes launched by the YSRCP government were also named after either YSR or Jagan.

Satya Kumar mentioned that it was NT Rama Rao who founded NTRUHS, but unfortunately ‘NTR’ was removed from the name of the university.

This reflected the narrow mindset of former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said.

On June 4 when the counting of votes was on and the trends showed a massive lead for the coalition, TDP workers had replaced the name board of Dr. YSRUHS with one having Dr. NTRUHS’ written on it.

The mob had also damaged a plaque on the base of YSR’s statue on the campus.

Health university was the brainchild of former Chief Minister and TDP founder late NT Rama Rao.

NTR, as the late leader was popularly known, had inaugurated the university in 1986. After the death of NTR in 1995, then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had named the university after the legendary actor-turned politician.

However, the YSRCP government in 2022 changed the name of the university to Dr. YSRUHS after late Chief Minister YSR.

The Assembly had passed a Bill in September 2022 renaming the university after YSR amid protests by TDP members.

After assuming office as the chief minister last month, Chandrababu Naidu had signed five files and this included one to enhance social security pension while restoring the name of the scheme as NTR Bharosa.

NTR Bharosa was changed to YSR Pension Kanuka after YSRCP came to power in 2019.

Naidu also signed another file to re-open Anna Canteens, which were shut by the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government.

As NTR, who was father-in-law of Naidu, was affectionately called 'Anna' (elder brother), the earlier TDP government had used the name for canteens, which were set up to provide meals at Rs 5 to the poor and the middle class.

All 204 canteens were shut in August 2019 as YSR Congress alleged corruption in the scheme.

The TDP had alleged that the Jagan government shut down the canteens due to political vendetta. At a few places, the YSRCP re-opened the canteens after re-naming them as ‘Rajanna’, as the late YSR was fondly called.

The new government has also changed the names of other schemes which had YSR or Jagan as prefixes.

Jagananna Vidya Deevena has become Post Matric Scholarship. Jagananna Vasathi Deevena is renamed Post Matric Scholarships. Jagananna Videshi Vidya Deevena will now be called Ambedkar Overseas Vidya Nidhi (scholarships for overseas education).

Jagananna Civil Services Protasahakam is renamed Incentives for Civil Services Exams scheme. YSR Kalyana Masthu has become Chandranna Pelli Kanuka (financial help for marriage of poor girls) while YSR Vidyonnathi has become NTR Vidyonnathi (financial help for poor students to continue education).

DISHA mobile application is now called women safety app while Nadu-Nedu has become School Infrastructure Improvement programme.

Similarly, the coalition government also restored the names of schemes implemented between 2014 and 2019.

After coming to power in 2019, YSRCP had renamed Annadata Sukhibhava Scheme as Rythu Bharosa, NTR Housing as YSR Gruhanirmana Padakam and Anna Amrutha Hastam as YSR Amrutha Hastam.