Visakhapatnam TDP MP M. Sribharat launched a sharp counterattack on YSRCP chief and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy over allegations relating to land proposed for GITAM University, accusing him of spreading deliberate lies, distorted facts and political venom. In a strongly worded open letter, Sribharat said Jagan, YSRCP leaders and sections of the party’s media ecosystem were indulging in a malicious campaign against both GITAM and himself.

Rejecting YSRCP’s allegation that the 54.79 acres proposed for GITAM is worth Rs 5,000 crore, Sribharat presented official figures to counter the claim. He pointed out that during the YSRCP regime, land adjoining the GITAM Rushikonda campus under the Rajiv Swagruha Housing Project was converted from residential to mixed-use zoning and auctioned between 2022 and May 2024.

“At that time, the reserve price was only Rs 60,000-Rs 65,000 per square yard,” he said. With approximately 3,000 square yards per acre, the land value works out to about Rs 19.5 crore per acre, placing the total value of 54.79 acres at roughly Rs 1,000 crore. “Are you now claiming that land values increased five times under the NDA government? If so, that itself is the biggest endorsement of the development taking place in Andhra Pradesh,” Sribharat remarked, challenging Jagan to clarify his contradictory claims.

Sribharat further questioned YSRCP’s credibility by recalling that in 2023, the Jagan government allotted 11 acres to an international school located less than a kilometre from the GITAM campus at just Rs 1 crore per acre. “If land was truly worth Rs 100 crore per acre as you claim today, why was land valued at Rs 1,100 crore given away for just Rs 11 crore?” he asked, adding that no construction has taken place there even after three years. “Why is there total silence from YSRCP leaders on this?” he questioned.

Dismissing allegations that land seized earlier by the YSRCP government was now being handed over to GITAM free of cost, Sribharat clarified that the GVMC-issued No Objection Certificate had no role in price fixation. “The final decision on land extent and pricing will be taken only after the file passes through the CCLA and the Cabinet,” he said, reiterating that GITAM is prepared to pay the price fixed by the government. “We are not seeking freebies. This has been our stand for over 20 years, yet you continue to mislead the public knowingly,” he charged.

Recalling the midnight demolition of the university’s compound wall in 2020, Sribharat urged the YSRCP leadership to end politics of vendetta against an institution that has served education and public health for decades.