The Telangana government, led by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), has decided to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) to acquire the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. According to the party’s Andhra president Thota Chandra Sekhar, only the BRS is capable of fighting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government to stop the privatisation of the steel plant. The steel plant employees have been protesting the Union government’s privatisation efforts for nearly 800 days since such a move was announced.
The Union government invited EoIs for the steel plant on March 27 this year as a first step towards privatising it, following the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs' approval for its complete disinvestment in January 2021. Bids were invited from private businesses and manufacturers of steel to provide working capital and buy the steel plant’s output. Reportedly, the Telangana government will submit the EoI either through the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) or through the Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC).
On Tuesday, a five-person delegation from SCCL, including three directors, visited the steel plant. According to reports, ten firms have reportedly expressed interest in the bidding.
The announcement has gained a lot of attention as it is seen as a strategic move by the BRS, aimed at keeping the parties that maintain ‘friendly relations’ with the BJP in check, particularly the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Thota Chandra Sekhar, a former IAS officer who was earlier with the Jana Sena Party (JSP), visited the steel plant and met with the employees on Monday, April 10. “Why can’t the Union government allocate Rs 5,000 crore to the steel plant from its Rs 45 lakh crore budget? The steel plant assets are worth nearly Rs 3 lakh crore, but the networth is deliberately being shown as Rs 390 crore only, as it has been strategically planned to transfer it to private individuals,” Thota Chandra Sekhar alleged. He added that the BRS would not hesitate to fight to protect the steel industry. He also said that the party will soon organise a public meeting with its national president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) in the steel plant township.
K Ramakrishna, Andhra Pradesh secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), said that Jagan failed to exert pressure on the Union government to prevent the privatisation of the steel plant. “The Andhra government seems undaunted by the Telangana government's interest in taking part in the bid. This reflects the incompetence of the Jagan government,” Ramakrishna stated.
Political analyst K Nageshwar Rao said that the politics around the recent development has placed Jagan in an uncomfortable position. “The Opposition has demanded that the Andhra government participate in the bidding and take the responsibility of saving the steel plant. However, the Jagan government has stayed silent on the issue,” he said.
Nageshwar Rao added that no party in Andhra Pradesh is ready to face the BJP, saying, “Opposition leader and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu never questioned the BJP but always accused Jagan of inaction.”
Meanwhile, JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, who is in alliance with the BJP in Andhra, said that his party does not have the strength in Parliament to raise the issue, while pointing fingers at the ruling YSRCP. “However, it is expected that the Opposition parties in Andhra would not exert serious pressure on the Jagan government, as that would mean directly confronting the BJP-led Union government’s move,” Nageshwar Rao said, suggesting that the TDP and JSP were only willing to blame Jagan for not tackling the BJP, but not ready to challenge the Union government on their own.
Meanwhile in Telangana, Mahesh Goud, working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), alleged that a “drama” is going on as part of a pact between BJP and BRS. “Why is the BRS not meeting the Prime Minister to demand the projects that should come to the state as a part of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014? KCR has no courage to re-open the Nizam Sugar Factory in Telangana’s Nizamabad district, but he is trying to fool people by announcing that the government will participate in the tender bidding for the Vizag steel plant,” Mahesh Goud alleged on Monday.