Telugu Desam Party(TDP) chief and Opposition Leader Chandrababu Naidu has announced that his party MLAs are ready to resign for saving the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant from privatisation.
The former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has written a letter to Visakhapatnam Steel Conservation Struggle Committee regarding the issue and stretched his complete support to the issue. He asked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to join the fight and lead it from the front.
Recalling the sacrifices of the agitators, Naidu said the steel plant was built and dedicated to the nation in 1992. He revealed that there was a proposal then Union Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee to privatise the plant as it had accumulated losses to the tune of about Rs 4,000 crore by 2000. After the request from the AP government, the Centre had provided a restructuring package of Rs 1,333 Cr, which helped the VSP to turn profitable.
However, it is known that the trade unions are intensifying their agitation against the privatization of Visakhapatnam steel. N Chandrababu Naidu said the united struggle could protect steel from being privatized.