Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, who had
vehemently opposed the BJP-led Centre's move to privatise Andhra Pradesh's historic Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) during the campaigns for the recently concluded MLC elections in the graduates' constituencies of Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam and Hyderabad-Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy, today reportedly assured TDP leader and former minister Ganta Srinivas Rao that he would soon visit the plant to express his solidarity with the workers protesting the decision.
Srinivas Rao called on the minister at the Telangana Assembly during the tea break of the ongoing Budget session, and sought the latter's help in the state's fight against the Centre's proposal to disinvest from the VSP. He urged KTR to join the
ongoing protests in Andhra Pradesh to give the movement more backing.
After his meeting, the TDP leader told the media that the minister had agreed to come with a team of Telangana's Cabinet ministers to Visakhapatnam very soon.
"I urged KTR to lend his support to the anti-privatisation protests, and he kindly agreed to do so. He also condemned the Modi government's decision to privatise several PSUs and consequently hurting lakhs of employees," the leader said.
Srinivas Rao himself has been heavily involved in the agitation, and had even
resigned from his post as MLA soon after the privatisation proposal was announced. He has been demanding that the Centre withdraw the decision, and instead work to protect employees' interests.