Andhra Congress chief YS Sharmila stages protest demanding steel factory in Kadapa

She symbolically broke coconuts to express her dissent against both the YSR Congress and the TDP-led government for not fulfilling their promise, despite the foundation stone for the factory having been laid.

"Kadapa Steel is now reduced to just breaking coconuts. Changing Chief Ministers and breaking coconuts has become a recurring spectacle," Sharmila Reddy said while speaking at the protest venue.

Former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy first laid the foundation for the steel plant on December 23, 2019, at Sunnapurallapalle village in Jammalamadugu mandal, about a year after his predecessor had done so in 2018 at a different location, Kambaladinne village in Mylavaram mandal. Jagan Mohan Reddy then laid the foundation stone again at Sunnapurallapalle in February 2023.

Sharmila Reddy said that in 2014, Congress could not return to power at the centre, and hence Andhra Pradesh did not get Special Status or other promised bifurcation rights, including the Kadapa Steel Plant.

"The BJP, despite being in power for the last decade, has failed to deliver on these bifurcation promises. Both Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy supported the BJP but did not ensure the implementation of the bifurcation assurances. In 2014, after becoming Chief Minister, Chandrababu initiated the Kadapa Steel Plant project but merely broke a coconut at a different site than the one earmarked by the YSRCP government," she said.

Similarly, in 2019, after becoming Chief Minister, Jagan performed another symbolic coconut-breaking ceremony at a new site but did not progress the project, she added.

She said that Congress is issuing an ultimatum to the government to establish the Kadapa Steel Factory, fulfilling the long-standing demand of the district's people.

If no action is taken, the Congress Party will organize protests, rallies, and roadblocks, she said. (ANI)