Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) went into a ventilator mode as it was neglected by the YSRCP government in the past five years, TDP state president and Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao said here on Monday.

At a media conference here, the Gajuwaka MLA said the NDA government breathed life into the steel plant with the support of the Centre’s revival plan package.

“Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu and Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat worked hard to save the VSP,” the MLA said.

Even in the 1990s, when the plant was suffering a financial crisis, it was Chandrababu Naidu who saved it, Srinivasa Rao recalled.

If the package given by the Centre is utilised well and the plant is operated in its full capacity, Srinivasa Rao opined that there is a chance to merge the VSP with the SAIL a few years later.

“The State government fulfilled its promise and it is the responsibility of the VSP employees and the management to take the lead and make the plant profitable. The more it gets developed, youth will get job opportunities, he opined.

Alleging that the YSRCP government did not make any effort to protect the VSP, Srinivasa Rao said, “The previous government tried to sell the lands of the VSP and planned to shift the plant to another place. The YSRCP leaders have no right to speak about the plant.” The trade union leaders who made agitations for the VSP should focus on operating the plant to its full capacity, the MLA urged. Terming the VSP as the sentiment of Andhra people, the MLA mentioned that it is the same sentiment that made Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy to grant the special revival plan to the VSP. Former MLA Peela Govinda Satyanarayana and JSP leader Kona Tatarao were also present.