CPI(M) Polit Bureau member B.V. Raghavulu. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Wondering what benefit has the financial package given by the Centre done to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member B.V. Raghavulu said the ₹11,000 crore package was not to save VSP or its employees, but to enable the plant to clear its debts to banks.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders had made tall claims portraying it as an achievement of party president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Initially, we [CPI(M)] thought that package was meant to enable VSP tide over its financial crisis, but it later turned out to be otherwise, Mr. Raghavulu, who was in the city to participate in the CPI(M) district plenary, said at a media conference, in Visakhapatnam, on Saturday (March 15, 2025).

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Earlier in the day, the CPI-M Polit Bureau called on the workers, who were on a relay hunger fast at the Steel Plant gate, and expressed his support to their strike. He told them that the package would not benefit the plant in any way. Mr. Raghavulu demanded allocation of captive mines to VSP, its merger with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and revocation of the decision on strategic sale of VSP.

He found fault with the government for giving guarantees to the steel plant proposed by Arcelor Mittal, while failing to do the same for VSP. He demanded that the Centre should immediately extend ₹9,000 crore to enable VSP to function to its full capacity of 7.3 million tonnes.

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Mr. Raghavulu ridiculed the statements of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu attributing the hike in electricity charges to the agreement made by the previous government with SECI (Adani), and that cancellation of that agreement would result in imposition of penalties on power consumers. Recalling the statements of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy that the YSRCP government had entered into an agreement with the Centre, Mr. Raghavulu questioned whether the Alliance government does not have the guts to make the Modi government to agree to the cancellation of the deal.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member said the party was opposed to, what he called, ‘imposition of three-language formula by the Centre on the States. He also alleged that the Centre was threatening the States on the issue. Referring to the ‘delimitation’ policy of the Centre, Mr. Raghavulu said the delimitation exercise should not disturb the balance between the States. He alleged that the Centre was trying to harm the interests of States, which were making efforts to minimise their population. The attitude of the Centre on allocation of funds to Tamil Nadu was against the federal spirt of the Constitution.