Modi killing Bayyaram, Vizag Steel to help Adani set up plant in Mundra: KTR

HYDERABAD: Telangana IT Minister and BRS Working President K T Rama Rao on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre of making the proposed Bayyaram steel factory and the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (Vizag Steel) sacrificial lambs for the sake of Gautham Adani’s Mundra steel unit.

Addressing the media at the Telangana Bhavan here, he alleged that Narendra Modi was killing ‘two birds at one shot’ to plunder the national wealth of this region and ‘dedicate it to his cronies’. Taking the Centre to task over its privatisation spree targeting the public sector units (PSUs), he said that the BRS is opposed to this policy of anarchy and atrocity.

“The BRS is committed to its philosophy of safeguarding the PSUs of the country. What we are currently witnessing is a brazen attempt to entrust the precious ‘navaratnas’ (PSUs) to two of Prime Minister’s most favourite ‘ratnas’. I don’t have to name them as everyone knows. They are the ‘Gujarat ratnas’ and the Prime Minister is on a single-point mission to satiate them,” he remarked.

Giving the reason for his Tuesday’s press meet, KTR said that he was aghast to read in newspapers about BJP Telangana President Bandi Sanjay questioning the BRS government’s interest in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

“A peculiar man with little knowledge of things, he was asking why our government was not showing the same interest in the proposed Bayyaram steel factory. It is the Centre that has been stonewalling our repeated requests to set the ball rolling for the Bayyaram steel plant through the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). We have proposed the supply of iron ore from Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh for the feasibility of Bayyaram. The same can be done for the Vizag Steel plant to preempt its privatisation.

“And there entered Adani’s newly floated Bailadila Iron Ore Company Private Limited which was entrusted the mines there for the purpose of setting up his steel plant in Mundra, Gujarat. Both the Telugu States ended up as big casualties of the Centre’s decision favouring Adani’s firm. Union ministers including G Kishan Reddy from Telangana stated that the Bayyaram plant was not feasible. This is in violation of the promises made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Two steel factories were promised, one in Bayyaram and the other in Kadapa of Andhra Pradesh,” the Minister said.

KTR also made a sensational claim that the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government had hatched a big conspiracy for the eventual privatisation of the Vizag Steel Plant. He alleged that, as part of this plot, the plant was being deliberately nudged into losses in many ways including the stoppage of iron ore supply to it.

“After entrusting the Bailadila iron ore mines to Adani’s company, attempts are in full swing now to sell off Visakhapatnam steel plant, with an estimated assets of around Rs 1.5 lakh crores, at throwaway prices, to the private sector. I want the Telugu people to realise that it is Prime Minister Modi who is destroying the Vizag Steel with ulterior motives,” he said.

The Telangana Minister said that a team of Telangana officials went to the Visakhapatnam steel plant only to study and get a grasp of what is happening behind the scenes.

“Unless Bailadila is freed from the clutches of Adani, the Bayyaram Steel Plant proposal will not see the daylight and Vizag Steel will not survive. We have already seen Adani’s escapades in Andhra Pradesh. His companies have already grabbed the Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam ports from the original contract-holders, using coercive means. Those who stand up against them will be hounded by Central agencies like the ED and the CBI,” he claimed.

KTR demanded the Centre to immediately cancel the Bailadilla mines allotted to Adani and set up a steel plant in Bayyaram and support the Vizag steel plant with necessary resources. He said that the Vizag steel plant had a good track record in repaying its debts. “It promptly repaid loans taken during the tenures of PVNR and Vajpayee as PMs,” he said.

The Telangana Minister also appealed to the Telugu people to realise the dangers posed by the BJP which, he alleged, was working against the interests of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The Working President also informed that party flag-hoisting ceremonies followed by extensive meetings in all the 119 Assembly constituencies would be held on April 25 to mark the BRS formation day. Party supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) will convene a general body meeting at the Telangana Bhavan, party’s headquarters in Hyderabad, on that day to deliberate a wide-range of issues besides focussing on the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, he added.