: Re-coining the 1960s slogan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said the Kadapa steel plant 'is the state's right' and demanded that the Centre set it up through SAIL at any cost.
The state government was ready to lay a railway track (to the proposed project site) and provide power and water besides extending other incentives, the Chief Minister said.
"We have already reserved the iron ore mines for the steel plant," he added.
Addressing a teleconference with Telugu Desam MPs, MLAs and other senior leaders as the indefinite fast by Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh and MLC M Ravindranatha Reddy entered the sixth day today, he recalled the 'Visakha Ukku-Andhrula Hakku' slogan of the 1960s, leading to establishment of a steel plant at Visakhapatnam.
"Now the war cry Kadapa Ukku-Andhrula Hakku (Kadapa Steel plant is Andhras right) should reverberate across the nation and force the Centre to establish the plant in Kadapa district as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014," the TDP supremo said.
He announced a three-day agitation programme by the TDP, beginning tomorrow, in support of the demand for the plant.
While TDP workers would take out bike rallies across the state tomorrow, dharnas would be staged in all 13 districts on June 27 and TDP MPs would sit on a dharna in New Delhi on June 28, Chandrababu said.
The Chief Minister said the government had written many letters to the Centre, seeking establishment of the plant. The issue was also raised in Parliament and he had personally requested the Prime Minister and union ministers concerned.
"But the Centre now filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the plant is not financially feasible," he told his party leaders.
He alleged that the Centre was deliberately doing this to favour YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and Karnataka mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy.
"If Gali is to set up the plant, it need not have been incorporated in the Reorganisation Act, which clearly states that the plant should be established by SAIL," he pointed out.
Apart from the Kadapa steel plant, a railway zone in Visakhapatnam and a petroleum complex (in Kakinada) should also be set up and other promises made in the Act should be implemented, Chandrababu said.
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