Vijayawada: APCC chief YS Sharmila Reddy alleged that the Center was conspiring for the failure of Visakha Steel Company. Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to sell VSPs to his business friends at the lowest possible price.
All the Centre’s claims about protecting Visakha Steel Company are wrong, she said.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, he alleged that the Center has always shown nurturing motherly love towards the steel plant. Modi has more love for Kannada steel than Andhra rights.
Although the Center has said that there will be no privatisation, the Center has not provided any support to the plant as it could not register a profit.
The Center has extended Rs 15,000 crore assistance to save the Karnataka steel plant since Union Steel HD Kumaraswamy is from that state, she pointed out.
The Center could not fund the revival of Visakha Steel, which has 26,000 employees, but sanctioned huge financial assistance to the Karnataka Steel Plant, which has only 243 employees.
The JD(S), which has two MPs, may sanction Rs 15,000 crore, but the TDP and Jana Sena parties, which play key roles in the coalition government, are only working to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi without any monetary gain. All 18 MPs of the state are bowing to the Centre. This is ridiculous and also reflects the incompetence of AP MPs, she said.
At the same time, she lashed out at Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for talking to Modi about Mittal Steel while VSP workers are not getting their salaries, production is down due to shortage of raw materials, and more than 1,400 workers are protesting with urgent demands. Acceptance of aid from the Centre.
Sharmila also sanctioned Rs 15,000 crore financial assistance to VSP and demanded its merger with SAIL. It would be better if VSP could produce 7 million tonnes of steel. If these demands could not be met, then the TDP and the Jana Sena should walk out of the NDA, he felt.