‘Cockroach, centipede' crawl into AP's political discourse as food at state-run hostels comes under lens

The Print

7 hours ago

The two incidents provided ammunition for the opposition Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) to target the Telugu Desam Party-led (TDP) government in the state.
The uproar had barely died down when a 'centipede' appeared just days later in the morning breakfast at another girls' residential school in Srikalahasti.
Hyderabad: Cockroaches, centipedes and insects have suddenly crawled to the centre of Andhra Pradesh's political discourse. It began with a commotion on Monday when a 'cockroach' reportedly turned up on the home minister's plate during a meal with students at a social welfare hostel.
The YSRCP functionaries accused the Naidu government of serving inferior, insect-infested food to students in contrast to the upgraded mid-day meal scheme, Gorumudda, implemented by their leader, Jagan Mohan Reddy.
'Inferior quality ingredients, food infested with insects and contamination incidents have become a common occurrence in social welfare schools and hostels since Chandrababu Naidu took over,' Maddila Gurumoorhty, the YSRCP MP from Tirupati, under which Srikalahasti falls, told ThePrint.
'Repeated food poisoning cases across Andhra Pradesh expose a dangerous collapse in hostel management. Students are being fed unhygienic food under a system that values cost-cutting over children's health.'
The opposition MP said that education minister Nara Lokesh should focus on improving education and food hygiene in government-run schools and hostels, 'instead of targeting Jagan and YSRCP with state power'.
Meanwhile, another food poisoning incident at yet another girls' hostel came to light on Friday. Twenty students reportedly fell sick, vomiting and complaining of diarrhoea, after consuming contaminated food at KGBV hostel in Papireddypalli village, under Penukonda constituency, represented by backward classes welfare minister S. Savitha.
The controversy erupted on Tuesday when a video of a stunned and visibly upset home minister Anitha Vangalapudi after spotting 'a cockroach' in her food plate went viral on the news and social media.
The incident occurred when the Payakaraopeta MLA Anitha went on an unannounced visit to the Backward Classes (BC) welfare girls' hostel in her constituency in north Andhra, reportedly on Monday evening.
Aghast, Anitha held up the tiny creature by its tentacles for the cameras, even as she and the amused girls around her could not control their laughter initially. The mortified minister then reproached the hostel caretakers over the poor hygiene and inferior food quality. The warden was suspended later.
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Damage control
As the YSRCP began attacking the TDP government and education minister Nara Lokesh over the deplorable conditions in schools and hostels, Anitha went into damage control and held a press conference to claim that 'what she showed was just a strand of hair'.
The minister said that 'contrary to the YSRCP's claims, she did not find a cockroach in the food served at the hostel'.
She accused the opposition party of 'deliberately spreading fake news' to mislead the public and tarnish their government's image.
The reason for the warden's suspension, the minister said, was that the official left the premises by 5 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. when her duty time ended. She noted that the government-prescribed food menu, including fine rice, was not being served at the hostel.
But the sighting of a centipede in Upma (a traditional South Indian breakfast recipe) at a Srikalahasti girls' hostel just two days later allowed the YSRCP to escalate the offensive.
At least three girls had to be admitted to a government hospital to treat nausea and stomach pain at Srikalahasti on Thursday, after a 'jerri' (centipede) was found in the upma they were eating for breakfast at the state-run BC welfare girls' hostel at the temple town near Tirupati.
Tirupati collector Venkateswar Salijamala confirmed to ThePrint that three girl students were taken ill after eating the tiffin at the welfare hostel.
'A boarder who said she spotted a centipede in upma vomited, while two others also complained of nausea and other symptoms. They were all rushed to a government health facility where they were treated and discharged. No one is in danger,' said the district administrative head.
'We have sent the food samples for testing and based on a probe, action will be taken on those accountable for the negligence,' the collector said, while adding that a deep cleaning drive was carried out at all such government-run hostels before the academic year began recently.
Former YSRCP MLA Biyyapu Madhusudhan Reddy, who met the girls at the hospital, blamed the TDP-led government for the failure.
'Other inmates were alerted quickly and stopped from consuming the contaminated food, which helped prevent a more serious situation. The girls are living in a very pitiable situation, served inadequate and hazardous food,' said the former Srikalahasti MLA.
In another controversy, some visitors at the Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam claimed that they found an insect in the laddu brought as prasad from the sales counter on 29 June.
As a video went viral, temple executive officer M. Srinivas clarified that on examination, 'it was found to be a grasshopper, not a cockroach, and that it appears to have been deliberately inserted into an already broken laddu.'
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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