VIJAYAWADA: Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan lambasted the ruling YSRC for its “failure” for protecting the interests of the State.
Addressing a public gathering after ending his day-long deeksha against privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, held at his Mangalagiri office on Sunday, he said the 22 YSRC have no guts to hold placards demanding rollback of Vizag Steel Plant privatisation.
“Before the GVMC elections, the YSRC took up the steel plant issue and after results were out, they ignored it,” he criticised. Stressing that it is the responsibility of the YSRC to ensure Vizag Steel is not privatised, Pawan Kalyan asked the State government to lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to prevail upon the Centre to reconsider its decision.
One of the reasons for stating protest against privatisation of Vizag Steel in Mangalagiri, he said, is that T Amrutha Rao, whose fast led to creation of Vizag Steel, was former MLA of Tadikonda in Guntur district.
Pooh-poohing the reasoning that Vizag Steel is being privatised because of its Rs 22,000 crore debts, the Janasena chief questioned if the debt is the criteria for privatisation, would Andhra Pradesh, which has six lakh crore debt, be privatised?
He asked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to take out a padayatra for the Steel Plant, and promised to extend his support if it happens.
The Janasena chief, who targeted YSRC government during most of his speech, said the ruling party has no sincerity in its claims to give capital status to Kurnool. “It did not even give proper respect to Damodaram Sanjeevaiah from Kurnool, who in his short tenures as Chief Minister introduced long-lasting welfare schemes to benefit the poor and downtrodden,” he said.
The actor-turned-politician said the Jana Sena Party is sincere in its efforts to champion people’s cause though it didn’t have an MP.