Y. S. Sharmila Accuses Centre of Conspiracy to Sell Vizag Steel Plant

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Y. S. Sharmila declared that the Congress Party will not remain passive while the central government lays off workers and attempts to sell the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. She stated that the Centre is conspiring to hand over the plant to private individuals and asserted that the Congress Party would resist these efforts.

Y. S. Sharmila said that if necessary, the Congress would go as far as sacrificing their lives to protect the rights of the workers. She emphasized that the slogan “Andhras’ Right – Visakha Steel” would once again be voiced forcefully by the Congress Party.

She recalled that the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was established during the Congress regime and was profitable at that time. She alleged that after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, the government deliberately worked to weaken the plant in the manner of “to kill the dog, first make it rabid.” She accused the Centre of orchestrating layoffs, obstructing the supply of raw materials essential to the plant, and blocking the allocation of captive mines.

Refuting the claims that the Centre had provided ₹11,000 crore to revive the plant, Y. S. Sharmila said that such statements were entirely false. She explained that though the funds were nominally allocated, ₹8,000 crore of it was reclaimed by the government as loan repayments. She added that the remaining ₹3,000 crore was made conditional on the layoff of 5,000 employees, which she alleged was part of a broader conspiracy to hand over the plant to entities like Adani.

Y. S. Sharmila strongly criticized the state’s coalition government for remaining a spectator in this matter. She questioned whether Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan considered such actions justifiable. She further asked, “Are you serving Prime Minister Modi? Why are you not stopping the layoffs of workers? Have you fallen for Modi’s inducements? Or are you partners in this conspiracy?” making severe accusations.