Rosaiah takes on TDP on Aarogya Sri, SEZ

Hyderabad, Aug 9 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K Rosaiah today alleged that Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N Chandrababu Naidu was resorting to mud-slinging against the prestigious ''Aarogya Sri'' Health Insurance Scheme, which would benefit poor families.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the TDP leaders were making allegations against the scheme without verifying the facts.

Though the government had clearly mentioned that 863 diseases would be covered under the scheme, the TDP leaders were misleading the people by making statements that only two or three diseases would be covered under it, he added.

Criticising Mr Naidu's statement that the TDP would scrap the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) if it came to power, he said the SEZ concept was launched by the TDP government during 2001. Mr Naidu had written two letters to the then Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, informing him about the importance of the SEZs, he pointed out.

Defending the SEZs, Mr Rosaiah said it would generate employment and attract investments in the state for its overall development.

He also denied TDP leader K Sivaprasada Rao's charge that he had taken treatment at a corporate hospital due to lack of faith in the government's Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) hospital in the city.

Stating that he had full faith on NIMS, Mr Rosaiah said he had undergone a successful by-pass surgery there. It was wrong on the part of the TDP leaders to make statements without verifying the facts, he added.

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