Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday ordered to reinstate the name of ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar Awards’ after facing flak over changing its name.
The Andhra chief minister ordered to immediately cancel the Government Order stating redesignating ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar Awards’ as ‘YSR Vidya Puraskars’.
This development comes hours after the Reddy led-YSR Congress government faced criticism for renaming the award.
“The government has ordered to re-designate the ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar Awards’ as ‘YSR Vidya Puraskars’ from 2019 onwards for distribution on the occasion of birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as National Education Day on November 11, 2019,” read a previous Government Order issued in this regard.
Soon after the above government order was released, the Opposition strongly condemned the move.
Taking to Twitter, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu made a scathing attack on Reddy-led YSRCP government.
“Dr Kalam has accomplished much for the nation with his inspiring life. YS Jagan’s government changing “APJ Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskar” to “YSR Vidya Puraskar” is a shocking method of self-aggrandisement at the cost of disrespecting a much venerated man,” Naidu tweeted.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lanka Dinakar and Telugu Desam Party National General Secretary Ram Mohan Naidu K had also denounced the move.
