VSP privatization put on hold: Thota Chandrasekhar says first win for AP BRS

Thota Chandrasekhar said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s move to send a team of Singareni officials to the VSP to study an Expression of Interest (EOI) has put the Union government on hold for now on its plans

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh BRS chief Thota Chandrasekhar welcomed the Union government’s decision to suspend the privatization plan of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), which he said was the BRS’s first victory in the state.

He said the move by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to send a team of Singareni officials to the VSP to study the Expression of Interest (EOI) had put the Union government on hold for now on its plans.

Thota Chandrasekhar told media sources here on Thursday that the political and administrative pressure exerted by the BRS against the VSP privatization plan had had the desired result.

“As a way of thanking Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, VSP employees have called on us to organize a Vijayotsava Sabha in Vizag,” he said.

Although the ruling YSRCP and the opposition Telugu Desam party have given up hope, the BRS still supports the VSP workers and employees union. He said this victory proves that only BRS can fight and save Telugu interests.

The Chief Minister has been strongly opposed to the BJP government’s plan to privatize public sector enterprises (PSUs) under the guise of divestment. Chandrasekhar reminded that he had even warned the coalition government that if it proceeded with the VSP privatization plan, the Telangana government would bid for the steel plant and take it back from the private company.

Likewise, Industry Minister KT Rama Rao has written to the coalition government against the VSP privatization plan. The AP BRS chief said that a few days earlier, the minister had also uncovered a conspiracy by the coalition government to hand over the Bailadila mining contract to the Adani Group.

AP BRS is not happy with the Coalition government’s decision to put plans on hold for now. He demanded that such attempts should not be made in future and that the coalition government should assure Telugus for this.

Thota Chandrasekhar also asked the coalition government to hand over 20,000 acres of VSP land to RINL as it would help in raising loans for the plant. He asked, among other things, that Rs 5,000 crore should be provided to VSPs in the form of loans or assistance to get out of the immediate challenges.