Will set up steel plant in Kadapa if Centre 'not ready to do so': AP CM Naidu

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today reasserted that a steel plant in Kadapa was the state's right and said the government would set it up if the Centre was not ready to do so.

He was speaking to reporters after helping TDP Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh end his 11-day fast here over the steel plant issue by offering juice.

Asserting that the steel plant was "AP's right" and that it could not be foregone, Naidu demanded that the Centre establish the plant in accordance with the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

"The Centre should set up the steel plant. We will not forgo our right. If we lose our right, the Centre will lose the people's confidence," the chief minister said.

He said the state would bear 50 per cent of the cost if the Centre felt the Kadapa steel plant was economically not viable.

"There is no better place than Kadapa to set up a steel plant, with 266 million tonnes of iron ore readily available. We have also identified 3,100 acres of land for the plant. Power and water are available," Naidu added.

Ramesh, along with member of AP Legislative Council M Ravindranatha Reddy, sat on an indefinite hunger strike on June 20 demanding that the Centre immediately set up the steel plant in Kadapa district.

On June 27, Ravindranatha Reddy was forcibly evicted from the fast camp and admitted to the Rajiv Institute of Medical Sciences after his health began deteriorating.

Ramesh, however, continued the fast even as TDP MPs held talks with Union Steel Minister Birender Singh to get a "firm assurance" on the steel plant.

The chief minister today visited the fasting MP and make him end the fast.