Visakhapatnam, (Samajweekly) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) National President and opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to stop the sale of the steel plant or resign from his post.
“Stop the sale of the steel plant or resign and go to jail or wherever you (CM) would like to go. If YSRCP continued its games of betrayal against the people’s sentiments even now, the people of the state would rise in revolt and they would not allow the ruling party leaders to move on the roads,” said Naidu.
He demanded Reddy to take responsibility to lead the ongoing agitation to save the prestigious steel plant which is facing the immediate threat of privatisation.
Naidu met his party leader Palla Srinivasa Rao, whose indefinite fast was forcibly ended by the police, in the hospital.
He said Rao was continuing his fast unto death from his hospital bed.
The former Chief Minister admonished Reddy and his party leaders to make sincere efforts like Rao, whose hunger strike completed eight days.
“Not a single minister has visited or enquired about his health till now. Palla’s weight has come down by 10 kg already. But the false protesters were gaining weight on the other hand,” said the TDP supremo.
Naidu claimed that the Chief Minister is allegedly not opening his mouth on the steel plant issue.
He demanded Reddy to stop his alleged pretensions as the steel plant has immense sentimental value for the people of Andhra Pradesh.
“In the united state, the people of all the three regions including Telangana waged a united stir and protected the VSP. Over 32 agitators sacrificed their lives and Tadikonda resident Amrutha Rao continued a 47-day long fast at that time,” Naidu reminded.
Amid those circumstances, he claimed there was no option for Indira Gandhi but to grant the steel plant in the port city.
He slammed YSCRP MP V. Vijayasai Reddy for allegedly counselling Andhra people in a fashion that they should accept the reality of privatisation.
“At the same time, the MP was saying that he would take up a 20 km long padayatra. What was required right now was that the YSRCP MP should go to Delhi and get the steel plant sale stopped,” the former CM asserted.
Naidu claimed that the state people realised that YSRCP leaders are enacting false dramas and going to meet an alleged fake swamiji (godman) in Vizag to seek his blessing for their nefarious activities.
He claimed that Reddy met with the representatives of Posco, including posing for photographs with them but did not bother to tell the people about the privatisation plans.
“If the CM had any love for the North Andhra region, he should get the Obulapuram mines allotted for saving the Visakha Steel plant. That would save the industry from the privatisation plan immediately,” Naidu claimed.
According to the former Chief Minister, the steel plant was supporting the livelihoods of 5 lakh people, paying Rs 41,000 crore tax, out of which Rs 33,000 crore go to the Central government and Rs 8,000 crore to the state government.
“The Jagan regime was trying to make sure that there would be no public sector industry in Vizag. They set their sights on the Rs 2 lakh crore worth steel plant lands with which they were planning to do real estate in future,” he alleged.
