BRS to focus on privatisation

NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad

Touted as the Lotus Files, the Moinabad farmhouse case to poach four TRS MLAs is high on the BRS agenda. After farmer union leaders, now the BRS is going to focus on the SCCL employees union and back the protests led by the unions against the privatisation of PSUs.

The Chief Minister who has been holding meetings with farmers’ associations will now be talking to retired bureaucrats and some employee associations of PSUs to exert pressure on the Centre and its ‘anti-people’ policies. The Left is likely to support this. It may be mentioned here that in January, KCR held a meeting with senior leaders of the CPM and the CPI and had discussed finding common ground in opposing the Centre’s PSU disinvestment and other policies.

In fact, earlier this year, KCR had offered to buy the Centre’s share of 49 per cent in SCCL to safeguard the interests of employees and save public sector companies. Minister Koppula Eshwar said, “The privatisation of public sector institutions means scrapping reservation. Already we have written a letter to the Union Minister of Social Justice on the injustice being done to the downtrodden due to the privatization of public sector institutions. There will be protests from employees on this issue in future.” He said that Modi’s announcement on SCCL privatization is a victory for the TRS. He said, “As there is no direction in AP, the Centre’s stance on the privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel is not changing there. That’s why Modi is not responding there. Installation of meters on agricultural pumps has also been done in AP but not in Telangana.

The entire people should stand by KCR who is doing justice to all communities in Telangana.” He asked, “Isn’t it true that the Centre was trying to auction the coal blocks? Doesn’t privatization of coal mines mean putting SCCL in the hands of private individuals? SCCL workers have many problems. Modi would have talked about them too. Even though the legislature has passed a resolution to exempt SCCL workers from Income Tax, there is no word from the Centre. Pensioners also have many problems.”