‘PM selling PSUs like chai’: Telangana Minister's dig at PM Modi

Telangana's Minister for Labour and Employment Chamakura Malla Reddy, who is known for his quirky style of speech, took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selling off Public Sector Undertakings (PSU). Speaking in the state Assembly on Saturday, February 11, the Minister said, "Just like me, the Prime Minister sold chai, became chief minister, and then PM. But to our misfortune, we trusted him, and now he has started selling off the public sector, and our Singareni collieries too." The Minister added, "The PM just seems interested in selling. He's selling things as if he is selling chai." The speech evoked laughter from his party colleagues and Congress leaders in the House. 

The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is a government-owned-coal mining corporation. SCCL is jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and Government of India on a 51:49 equity basis. There are speculations that the Union government is planning to privatise SCCL. Modi had responded to these allegations last year by saying that the Union government had no intention of privatising SCCL. He had clarified that the Union government, which only has only 49% equity in the company, has no authority to privatise the Singareni coal mines, as the majority stake was with the Telangana government. However in 2022, the Union government had put up four coal blocks for auctioning, giving legitimacy to the speculations about the government's plan to privatise Singareni. 

The Singareni coal reserves stretch across 350 km of the Pranhita-Godavari Valley of Telangana, with proven geological reserves aggregating to 8,791 million tonnes. SCCL operates several opencast and underground mines in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, and Khammam areas, and employs around 44,000 workers.