Ramakrishna lambasts CM over neighbouring State's bid for VSP

Vijayawada: With the decision of the Telangana State government to bid for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, it is political hara-kiri for Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna.

The CPI leader said in a statement here on Monday said that it's shameful on the part of the Chief Minister that the neighbouring Stateof Telangana had prepared to bid for the steel plant in case the Central government goes ahead for the privatisation of the plant. It may be recalled that the TS government had decided to submit an expression of interest (EoI) through Singareni Collieries to raise the capital fund for the maintenance of the steel plant. It is also reported that a group of officials had already visited the steel plant at Visakhapatnam to prepare a detailed report.

The senior CPI leader said that there has been an agitation going on for the last 788 days to save the steel plant at Visakhapatnam. Moreover, almost all the sections of people are raising their voice against the privatisation of the steel plant. Still, the YSRCP government maintains silence over the issue.

Ramakrishna said that if the Telangana State government submits the bid, it would be throwing a challenge at the AP government and also the Central government. The Chief Minister is colluding with the Modi administration to become instrumental to the exploitation of the State resources by Adani, he alleged. "Now Chief Minister Jagan is also favouring handing over the steel plant to Adani," the CPI leader said. He recalled that the steel plant was achieved with the sacrifices of 32 persons and it is high time all the MPs raised their voice in unison against the privatisation of the steel plant.