Leaders of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee (VUPPC) have taken exception to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy not raising the issue of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) during his two-day interactions with the Prime Minister and Union Ministers in Delhi on the issues concerning the State.
In a statement here on Tuesday, VUPPC leaders J. Ayodhya Ram, Gandham Venkata Rao and K. Satyanarayana Rao said that the statement released by the Chief Minister’s office states that the Mr. Jagan had discussed the Special Category Status (SCS), Polavaram Project, the disputes between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States, increasing the ceiling on loan and reducing the budget deficit.
The VUPPC leaders noted that they were shocked to find that the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant issue was not mentioned in the memorandum given to the Prime Minister. They recalled that when they met the Chief Minister in February 2021, he had promised to strive to take up the issue with the Prime Minister.
They said that it was not correct on the part of the Chief Minister not to utilise the opportunity to appeal to the Prime Minister to continue VSP in the public sector. They appealed to the CM to convene another special meeting with the PM and take the issue to his notice at least now. They said that the VUPPC chairmen Ch. Narasinga Rao, Mantri Rajasekhar and D. Adinarayana had sought that the Chief Minister should lead a united agitation, if the PM failed to given appointment, in this regard.
The committee leaders also deplored the adamant attitude of the Centre for not repealing its decision on VSP though the workers have been organising relay hunger strikes continuously for the past 11 months. They warned that the agitation would be intensified, if the Centre failed to revoke its decision on the VSP.
