Chandrababu Naidu should convince Centre to continue Vizag steel plant in public sector, says CPI leader Ramakrishna

This is also the right time for the Chief Minister to insist upon the Centre to accord Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh, opines the CPI State secretary

The sale of the assets of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) by the Centre is a part of its larger ploy of sell the plant, opines CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna.

The CPI leader was in the city, along with CPI national secretary K. Narayana, as part of the three-day CPI State Council meetings, which concluded here on July 3 (Wednesday).

The CPI leader said the Centre was dependent on the support of the TDP, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should insist upon the Centre to continue the plant in the public sector.

Captive mines

Mr. Naidu should also demand captive mines and working capital for the VSP, apart from asking the Centre to stop the sale of assets.

Mr. Ramakrishna recalled that the trade unions and the Left parties had been staging protests in all the districts against the privatisation agenda of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

He said the CPI national council meeting to be held in Delhi from July 11 to 15 would also discuss the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant issue, and the measures required to make the Centre revoke its decision on strategic sale of VSP.

Decrying the handing over of lands “on a platter” to the Adani and Ambani groups, the CPI leader urged the State government to release a White Paper on the lands allotted to the two corporate groups in Andhra Pradesh during the last five years.

Replying to queries, he said the CPI would discuss the issue of the State government declining permission to the volunteers’ ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ programme.

There was a need for a discussion on EVMs as the advanced countries had switched over to paper ballots. There should also be discussions on election expenditure and distribution of money in elections, which had become the norm among all major political parties.

In the recent elections, ?10,000 crore was spent in Andhra Pradesh alone, Mr. Ramakrishna said. He further said this was the right time for Mr. Naidu to insist on the Centre to extend Special Category Status (SCS) to A.P.

Railway zone

He also demanded that work on operationalisation of the Visakhapatnam-headquartered South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone be expedited.

CPI State assistant secretaries J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy and Muppalla Nageswara Rao, and district secretary M. Pydiraju were present.