The TDP leaders on Tuesday trained their guns on the YSRCP government, accusing it of not doing anything to stop the strategic sale of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made it clear in the Lok Sabha that there was no going back on the proposal.
“Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has failed to stop the privatisation move and the YSRCP is still misguiding the people on the issue,” alleged TDP State president K. Atchannaidu. Ms. Sitharaman’s statement clearly indicates that the YSRCP government was in the know of things much before, he said.
“South Korean major POSCO had met Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy 20 days after he took over as the Chief Minister in 2019. A decision had been taken on the VSP’s divestment by then. But the YSRCP kept it under wraps. Now, the Chief Minister and his party leaders are putting up a show to misguide the people,” alleged Mr. Atchannaidu.
He also said that that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the members of NITI Aayog.
“However, the Chief Minister did not speak a word on the issue. It is evident that he is scared of the Prime Minister and the BJP. He is ready for any bargain including the sale of the VSP to get the cases against him settled,” said the TDP leader.
‘Naidu wrote to PM’
Refuting the claim that TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu had not spoken to the Centre on the steel plant issue, Mr. Atchannaidu said that the TDP chief had written a detailed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 20.
“Mr. Naidu, in his letter, had even said that the TDP was ready to walk with the YSRCP if the latter made its stand clear on the issue,” he said.
Mr. Atchannaidu. demanded that the YSRCP MPs should now take up the moral responsibility and resign. “If all the MPs quit, we promise not to contest with the YSRCP in the MP election,” he said.
Dig at Sitharaman
Criticising Ms. Sitharaman’s statement that State government had no stake in the PSUs, TDP leader Palla Srinivasa Rao, who undertook a fast-unto-death over the VSP issue, said, “If the Centre intends to set up a PSU, it has to ask the State government concerned for permission and seek allotment of land, water and other local resources. How can our State government have no say when a PSU is being sold. The privatisation can be stopped if the YSRCP really intends to do so,” said Mr. Srinivasa Rao.
Please Email the Editor