Amaravathi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has drawn flak from the Opposition after he floated the idea to introduce English as the medium of instruction in the government-run schools.

Leaders, including Telugu Desam Party chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, are vehemently opposing the government’s proposal.

Joining the chorus of opposition, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also slammed the Jagan government’s move and asserted that students should be taught in their mother tongue.

However, CM Reddy hit back at the opposition saying that under privileged people want their children to be well-versed in English so that they can compete with students of other schools.

“Chandrababu Naidu, Venkaiah Naidu, Pawan Kalyan, and other leaders have criticised me. They all should question themselves as to whether they are right or not,” he said.

He asked if the kin of the opposing leaders studied in English-medium or not.

“Mr Venkaiah Naidu, in which medium did you children and grandchildren study?” he asked.

Reddy asserted that the people of Andhra Pradesh had suffered a lot for not studying in English medium. “Every school will have an English lab from this year. Next year, all the government schools will have only an English as medium of instruction. However, Telugu or Urdu will be a compulsory subject in schools,” he added.

The BJP also alleged "religious conspiracy" behind the government move and said that the linguistic culture needs to be protected. "Government should not impose the language on students and should let them make a choice," said Andhra Pradesh BJP chief Lakshmi Narayana.

He further warned of a stir if the government did not reconsider its decision. "We won’t keep calm if the government supports one religion in the name of language," Narayana said.

(With inputs from Syed Ahmed)