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Hyderabad: Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president N Ramchander Rao on Monday, August 24, began a 48-hour hunger strike demanding that the Congress government release pending dues of students’ tuition fee reimbursement scheme.

Rao, who began the fast at the party office in Hyderabad, said the pending dues to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore have put the future of about 20 lakh students at stake.

The dues rose to Rs 12,000 crore as Rs 8,000 crore was already pending when the previous BRS government demitted office in December 2023, he said.

5 lakh students’ signatures collected

The private colleges are withholding the certificates of students in view of the dues, he said. The colleges are not able to pay salaries to their staff members in view of the non-payment of funds under the scheme, Rao added.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, has collected the signatures of five lakh students in colleges, which shows their anger, he said.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is handling the education portfolio, but the department has been thrown to the wind, he alleged.

BJP demands Revanth give up education portfolio

The BJP leader demanded that Revanth Reddy give up the education portfolio in view of his alleged failure to address people’s problems.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is provoking the country’s youth, should come to Hyderabad and answer the people on the pending dues of the fee reimbursement scheme, he said.

Though permission was sought to organise the fast at the Dharna Chowk, a place where protests are usually organised in the city, the government denied the permission, BJP said.

CM Revanth Reddy has earlier announced that the state government would deposit Rs 2,400 crore towards fee reimbursement into bank accounts of students in advance from this academic year.

He said Rs 250 crore was already made available for payments.