Whenever the political atmosphere heats up in Andhra Pradesh or Telangana, maverick evangelist-turned-politician K A Paul provides much-needed comic relief to the people.
The issue of the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant generated a lot of heat and dust in Andhra Pradesh politics with the entry of Bharat Rashtra Samithi into the scene, offering to bid for the expression of interest in supplying raw material to the steel plant.
At the same time, the Central government made it clear that there was no question of going back on the privatisation of the steel plant and that the process would continue, even as there was a lot of political storm over the statement of the Union steel minister on the privatisation issue.
At this stage, Paul, who is heading the Praja Shanti Party, came up with an excellent offer. He said that if the Centre is interested in selling the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, he was ready to buy it.
“I request the Centre not to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. But if it is keen on privatisation, I am ready to buy the plant paying five times the price,” he said at a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Paul claimed that as a son of the soil, he also had the responsibility to save the steel plant. Already, he was fighting a legal battle to stop privatisation, he disclosed.
Ironically, former Joint Director of CBI V V Lakshminarayana also joined hands with Paul in his move. He was also present at Paul’s press conference and said he would fight along with the people to save the steel plant from privatisation.
