BJP Leader Defends Centre In Vizag Steel Plant Row

Following the mass outrage sparked by the Centre's decision to privatise the historic Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Himachal Pradesh Finance Minister Anurag Thakur today said that the decision had been taken keeping in mind the suggestions made by the Niti Ayog on the matter.

Addressing the media, he said that the Centre had met Andhra Pradesh Finance minister B Rajendranath Reddy three times to consult him on the issue as well.

Perhaps in an effort to mollify those questioning the move, Thakur then claimed that the BJP-led Centre had also decided to sanction funds to Andhra Pradesh's Polavaram irrigation project.

The minister also that the decision was not an indication that the Centre would soon sell all the public sector undertakings in the country, and added that it would privatise only those which were incurring losses.

Speaking about the Budget of 2021-22, he claimed that no injustice had been done to the two Telugu states of Telangana and AP, and that, with the exception of the Opposition's leaders, all sections of society in the two states and in the country had appreciated the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, on February 1.

Meanwhile, TDP MLA from Visakhapatnam North, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, today resigned from his post in a show of protest against the move to privatise the steel plant.

The local YSR Congress Party workers, and the employees and labour unions of the plant held huge protests as well, demanding that the Centre take back its decision.