Clarify your stand on privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, YSRCP tells coalition government in Andhra Pradesh

Senior YSRCP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Botcha Satyanarayana has demanded that the TDP-BJP-Jana Sena Party coalition in the State clarify its stance on the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited–Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP), which they had pledged to protect from privatisation.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, he alleged that recent developments indicate steps toward privatisation and announced that the YSRCP plans a massive movement to save the plant, inviting all parties willing to join. Mr. Satyanarayana pointed out that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu visited New Delhi 16 times in the past 15 months without raising the steel plant issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even during Mr. Modi’s recent visit to Visakhapatnam, neither Mr. Naidu nor Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan inquired about the Centre’s position. He also questioned Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan ahead of the party’s August 30 meeting in the city.

He praised the previous YSRCP government (2019–2024) under Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for preventing privatisation through sustained advocacy at the Centre. However, he accused the current coalition of moving toward privatisation by issuing notifications inviting contracts for key steel plant departments.

The YSRCP recently held a district-level meeting under Visakhapatnam president K.K. Raju to discuss this and other issues, including the deletion of thousands of pensioners’ names. Former Minister Gudivada Amarnath, former MLAs Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, Tainala Vijay Kumar, and MLCs Varudu Kalyani and Kumbha Ravi Babu attended.