Congress smells 2 lakh cr scam in Vizag Steel Plant land sale

Ongole: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Sake Sailajanath alleged that the leaders of the ruling party in State eyed vast land bank of Vizag Steel Plant and brewing a scam of around Rs 2 lakh crore.

Participating as the chief guest to the roundtable meeting held at the DCC office in Ongole on Wednesday and presided over by PCC vice-president SripatiPrakasam, Sailajanath alleged that the influential leaders in the State government have eyed the large land bank of the Vizag Steel Plant. He said that the State government is proposing to sell 7000 acres of seaside land belonging to the steel plant, to run it free from the debts and losses. He expressed concern the leaders in the government want to grab the land of the steel plant at cheap rates and suspected that a Rs 2 lakh crore scam is brewing in the State.

He condemned the proposal of the ruling party and advised the YSRCP leaders to convince the Union government to drop the proposal of disinvestment in the steel plant. He said that the Andhra people will not tolerate any efforts of the privatisation of the steel plant and warned the Union government to rollback its decision.

The Ongole town Congress president Nagalakshmi organised the roundtable meeting with the political parties and public fronts. The Ongole Parliament segment Congress in-charge Chevuri Sridhar Reddy, Ongole Parliament seat Congress president Eda Sudhakar Reddy, TDP leader Kamepalli Srinivasa Rao, CPM leader GV Kondareddy, CPI leader Upputuri Prakasa Rao, Prakasam Zilla Abhivruddhi Vedika former president Tadipatri Gopal Reddy, Amaravati JAC general secretary Chunchu Seshaiah, AIKSCC district convenor Chunduri Rangarao, Paura Samajam district president Gummalla Narasimham, PDSU State vice president Rajasekhar, Hethuvada Sangham district president Narne Venkata Subbaiah and others also participated and spoke in the round table meeting. The speakers demanded the Union government to stop the disinvestment process and allot captive mines to the steel plant to lead it into profits in no time. They demanded the State government to prove that the YSRCP leaders are not behind the deal by convincing the Union government. The speakers resolved to continue the agitation against the privatisation of the steel plant in a phased manner and involve masses from the village level in the movement.