Sharmila opposes TDP government’s “attempts to privatise” APSRTC

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y.S. Sharmila on Tuesday (June 23, 2026) accused the TDP-led coalition government of pursuing policies that, she said, were paving the way to privatise the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC).

Backing the agitation by the APSRTC Joint Action Committee (JAC), she charged the government with a “silent killing” of the public transport utility that threatened its future and the interests of its staff. “Whenever Mr. Chandrababu Naidu is in power, APSRTC faces a threat. There are always attempts to privatise the corporation and hand over public transport services to private operators. From the rental bus policy introduced earlier to the current entry of e-buses, every effort has been made to push the corporation towards privatisation,” she posted on X.

The Congress, she said, would oppose this “silent killing” of a transport system that mainly serves the poor. “Any attempt to undermine the existence and integrity of APSRTC will not be tolerated,” she said.

The corporation was being turned into a platform for rental buses, she said. She said electric buses should not be handed to private operators, and that APSRTC should buy and own them itself. She wanted a stop to the leasing of the corporation’s lands and properties, and the employees’ wage revision settled without delay.