VIJAYAWADA: The ruling dispensation in Andhra Pradesh has remained silent though there are serious moves to privatise Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, which is the result of a prolonged fight, said TDP Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar. Instead of exploring alternatives like merger of the steel plant with SAIL or take over of VSP by the State government, the ruling YSRC has kept mum, the MP said.
Addressing mediapersons through a zoom conference on Wednesday, he accused the YSRC government of misleading the people by claiming that it is strongly opposed to privatisation of the steel plant. Also, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is frequently changing track on the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone, he said and asked what is preventing the ruling party leaders from demanding the railway zone from the Centre. Instead, YSRC leaders are adopting a negligent attitude and resorting to cheap politics, which has become a bane for the State, he observed.
The TDP MP believes that the Centre is not taking any initiative to resolve the bifurcation issues between AP and Telangana. There is no positive outcome even after the Union Home Ministry’s meeting with representatives of the two Telugu States as the officials who attended the meeting, have failed to highlight the pending issues efficiently, he alleged.
“I have raised several questions in the Rajya Sabha on delay in fulfilment of promises made to the State in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. I even demanded the Centre to come up with details on what is done to AP for its growth post bifurcation,” he said and maintained that the Centre, in reply to his questions, only made it clear that the State had not paid its share for the combined projects. Thus, there is no progress in the Centrally-sponsored projects,” the TDP MP explained.