Visakhapatnam: Over a thousand Visakhapatnam Steel Plant employees led by trade union leaders cutting across political affiliations took out a huge rally from the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to Mahatma Gandhi statue near RTC Complex in the heart of the city on Sunday, the 1,116th day of their agitation, covering a distance of 23 kilometres.
Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Samithi organised the programme.
Leaders of all political parties, except BJP, were present in the procession. Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari remained in the forefront of the rally. Gajuwaka MLA Tippala Nagireddy expressed solidarity on behalf of the YSRC party. He did not participate in the rally though.
Former Gajuwaka MLA and Visakhapatnam district TD president Palla Srinivasa Rao took part in the rally and raised slogans against the NDA government along with other trade union leaders.
Former CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana joined the rally along with his like-minded people.
CPI State joint secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy, CITU state president Ch. Narsinga Rao, veteran trade union leader and CPI member D. Adinarayana, and INTUC leader Neerukonda Ramachandra Rao were present.
Ramachandra Rao gave an ultimatum to PM Modi that he must cancel the proposal to privatise the steel plant or merge it with the Steel Authority of India before the issue of notification for the general elections.
