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Andhra govt won’t allow Vizag steel privatisation, says YSRC Rajya Sabha MP
The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) accused YSRC MP Vijay Sai Reddy of double standards for opposing the steel plant' privatisation and alleged that he was playing a secret role in the efforts to sell the plant to South Korea’s POSCO.
In an attempt to wrest the political initiative from the opposition parties, YSR Congress party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Sai Reddy on Saturday took out a 25-km long padayatra in protest against the proposed privatisation of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), better known as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Accompanied by a large number of YSRC leaders including ministers, MLAs and party activists, besides steel plant workers and other followers, Reddy began his padayatra at Mahatma Gandhi statue in the heart of Visakhapatnam city in the morning.
It passed through the major streets of the port city and culminated in a public rally at Kurmannapalem gate of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant at Gajuwaka in the evening.
Addressing the rally, Reddy said the YSRC government in the state would make all out efforts to see that the steel plant was not privatised. “It will remain a public sector undertaking under any circumstances. Though it is a central government undertaking, the state government will not allow the plant to go into the hands of the private sector,” he said.
The MP called upon all political parties to come together and continue the fight against the privatisation of the steel plant. “We shall take the fight to Delhi and convince the Centre to drop the privatisation proposal,” he said.
Reddy took pot shots at Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu for “politicising” the Visakhapatnam steel plant privatisation issue. “If Naidu was so much concerned about the steel plant, why didn’t he write a letter to the Centre condemning the privatisation?” he asked.
The TDP, however, accused the YSRC leader of adopting double standards. Former minister and senior TDP leader from Visakhapatnam Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said Sai Reddy' padayatra was an eyewash as the latter was playing a secret role in the efforts to sell the steel plant to South Korea’s POSCO.
The TDP leader alleged that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had already entered into an understanding with POSCO. “The YSRC MP should swear in front of the public that he did not know about this shady deal. In fact, it was Reddy who had held consultations with the representatives of POSCO several times,” he charged.
He said the TDP would continue to expose the misdeeds of the ruling party and its attempts to grab the public properties in the port city.
The party launched a 'missed call' campaign on Thursday to record people's voices of support for the 'Save Visakha Steel' agitation on the mobile number 80999 81981. Till now, more than 20,000 missed calls were received so far, a statement from the TDP headquarters in Guntur said.
