YSRC to go it alone in elections, reiterates Botsa

VISAKHAPATNAM: Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana has reiterated that the YSRC would go it alone in the next elections and there is no need for the party to have a tie-up with others.

Talking to the media after presiding over the Zilla Parishad general body meeting in Vizianagaram on Friday, the minister said the political parties that are not strong and not sure of winning would need alliances with others.

“Development would be our slogan,’’ the minister said.

He expressed concern over the industries resorting to blackmailing of the state government by announcing layoffs and lockdowns in protest against the recent hike in power charges. “The companies never paid anything extra to the government when they made profits,” the minister pointed out and appealed to such units to avoid a shutdown.

The minister asked Ferro Alloys not to go for layoff by citing the reason that the company was incurring losses. The company can adjust with the profits they made in the past and the government would explore possibilities to help out the industry, he said.

“If necessary, we will try to provide alternative employment to the workers caught in such situations,’’ Satyanarayana said.

Regarding the Bhimsingh sugar factory crisis, the minister said the management was refusing to operate the factory as the farmers were not growing sufficient sugarcane. The farmers were growing cane only in 20,000 acres whereas the requirement was one lakh acres. “The cane grown here was being sent to the Sankili Sugar factory. Sankili factory has also stated that their produce was not getting breakeven price and as a result, they started manufacturing ethanol and other products,” he noted.

Satyanarayana said though the government wanted to modernize the Bheemsinghi sugar factory, the farmers were reluctant to grow sugarcane.

“We decided to offer a minimum support price to encourage the farmers to grow cane, which will also help in reopening the Bheemsinghi factory,’’ he added.