Chandrababu Naidu vs Jagan Reddy: Who gets credit for Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa steel plant?
The JSW Group steel project has sparked a battle for credit between the ruling TDP and Opposition YSRCP
The steel plant will be developed in two phases with an investment of Rs 16,350 crore; its production capacity will be two MTPA (million tonnes per annum). JSW Neo Energy will set up a 3,850 MW solar and wind power project with a total investment of Rs 20,350 crore to supply green energy to the steel plant.
Officials said the steel plant and the captive renewable energy project are together expected to create 2,700 direct jobs.
Addressing a public meeting, Naidu said the people of Rayalaseema had waited for decades for the steel plant, and his government had finally fulfilled the promise. The chief minister said the government would supply two TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water to the plant through a 15-km-long pipeline from Gandikota and ensure road, rail and port connectivity. Supply of high-quality local iron ore would also be facilitated.
However, the Opposition Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Jagan Mohan Reddy dubbed Naidu’s claims as “unabated credit chori” (credit-taking). The party alleged Naidu was laying foundation stones of projects started by the previous Jagan Reddy government.
YSRCP leader and former industries minister Gudivada Amarnath referred to the February 2023 event when Reddy, as chief minister, laid the foundation for the JSW steel plant at the same Sunnapurallapalle village.
The Rayalaseema steel plant, long demanded in the region, had been proposed in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. However, the Steel Authority of India dropped the plan by 2018, during Naidu’s previous chief ministerial tenure, citing feasibility issues.
In 2019, after becoming chief minister, Reddy, who hails from Kadapa, pursued the project. The YSR Steel Corporation was formed as a fully-owned undertaking of the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a three MTPA plant in the district. Reddy laid the foundation stone in December 2019.
However, the project couldn’t take off. Thereafter, the YSRCP government partnered with the JSW Steel to set up the plant. So, for the second instance, in February 2023, Reddy laid the foundation for the Rs 8,800 crore greenfield plant at Sunnapurallapalle in the presence of Sajjan Jindal.
In its new avatar too, the project did not progress much. After the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) assumed power in 2024, Naidu revived the project partnership with the JSW Group. Following negotiations last year, JSW Steel has planned to execute the steel plant project in two phases of one MTPA each.
Last July, the state government issued orders extending certain facilitations and assurances in power, water supply, road, rail connectivity and a 1,100-acre land allotment to JSW Steel for it to begin construction. It also offered some tailor-made incentives, including a 20 per cent capital incentive of up to Rs 607 crore to be disbursed over 10 years, electricity duty subsidy of up to Rs 1,092 crore, and decarbonisation subsidy of up to Rs 149 crore on an investment of Rs 3,730 crore.
Amarnath alleged that while the YSRCP government had conceptualised the plant and facilitated all logistics, “Chandrababu, after coming to power, scuttled the project, undermining Jagan Reddy’s efforts”. “After two years, Chandrababu Naidu renegotiated the project and has now laid the foundation stone for the same plant, thus adding another credit-chori feather to his cap,” he said.
Reddy, while congratulating Jindal, too expressed his displeasure on social media. He remarked that such landmark projects are built with years of committed groundwork, pointing out that it was his government that had finalised JSW as the project developer and laid the critical foundations necessary for the project to take shape.
“Unfortunately, over the past two years, the project came to a grinding halt, resulting in further delays to this long-awaited investment,” Reddy said on X, however noting that it is “encouraging to see the plant work finally restarting”.
“Development is a continuous process that transcends political boundaries Every government has a responsibility to build on the work already done and take projects to completion in the larger interest of the people,” he wrote.
TDP leaders counter that Reddy should apply his principle in the Amaravati capital project too since the YSRCP chief has declared he would pursue the MaViGun (Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur) corridor as an alternative to Amaravati, Naidu’s capital project he has dubbed as a funds guzzler and corruption-ridden.
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The steel plant will be developed in two phases with an investment of Rs 16,350 crore; its production capacity will be two MTPA (million tonnes per annum). JSW Neo Energy will set up a 3,850 MW solar and wind power project with a total investment of Rs 20,350 crore to supply green energy to the steel plant.
Officials said the steel plant and the captive renewable energy project are together expected to create 2,700 direct jobs.
Addressing a public meeting, Naidu said the people of Rayalaseema had waited for decades for the steel plant, and his government had finally fulfilled the promise. The chief minister said the government would supply two TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water to the plant through a 15-km-long pipeline from Gandikota and ensure road, rail and port connectivity. Supply of high-quality local iron ore would also be facilitated.
However, the Opposition Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Jagan Mohan Reddy dubbed Naidu’s claims as “unabated credit chori” (credit-taking). The party alleged Naidu was laying foundation stones of projects started by the previous Jagan Reddy government.
YSRCP leader and former industries minister Gudivada Amarnath referred to the February 2023 event when Reddy, as chief minister, laid the foundation for the JSW steel plant at the same Sunnapurallapalle village.
The Rayalaseema steel plant, long demanded in the region, had been proposed in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. However, the Steel Authority of India dropped the plan by 2018, during Naidu’s previous chief ministerial tenure, citing feasibility issues.
In 2019, after becoming chief minister, Reddy, who hails from Kadapa, pursued the project. The YSR Steel Corporation was formed as a fully-owned undertaking of the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a three MTPA plant in the district. Reddy laid the foundation stone in December 2019.
However, the project couldn’t take off. Thereafter, the YSRCP government partnered with the JSW Steel to set up the plant. So, for the second instance, in February 2023, Reddy laid the foundation for the Rs 8,800 crore greenfield plant at Sunnapurallapalle in the presence of Sajjan Jindal.
In its new avatar too, the project did not progress much. After the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) assumed power in 2024, Naidu revived the project partnership with the JSW Group. Following negotiations last year, JSW Steel has planned to execute the steel plant project in two phases of one MTPA each.
Last July, the state government issued orders extending certain facilitations and assurances in power, water supply, road, rail connectivity and a 1,100-acre land allotment to JSW Steel for it to begin construction. It also offered some tailor-made incentives, including a 20 per cent capital incentive of up to Rs 607 crore to be disbursed over 10 years, electricity duty subsidy of up to Rs 1,092 crore, and decarbonisation subsidy of up to Rs 149 crore on an investment of Rs 3,730 crore.
Amarnath alleged that while the YSRCP government had conceptualised the plant and facilitated all logistics, “Chandrababu, after coming to power, scuttled the project, undermining Jagan Reddy’s efforts”. “After two years, Chandrababu Naidu renegotiated the project and has now laid the foundation stone for the same plant, thus adding another credit-chori feather to his cap,” he said.
Reddy, while congratulating Jindal, too expressed his displeasure on social media. He remarked that such landmark projects are built with years of committed groundwork, pointing out that it was his government that had finalised JSW as the project developer and laid the critical foundations necessary for the project to take shape.
“Unfortunately, over the past two years, the project came to a grinding halt, resulting in further delays to this long-awaited investment,” Reddy said on X, however noting that it is “encouraging to see the plant work finally restarting”.
“Development is a continuous process that transcends political boundaries Every government has a responsibility to build on the work already done and take projects to completion in the larger interest of the people,” he wrote.
TDP leaders counter that Reddy should apply his principle in the Amaravati capital project too since the YSRCP chief has declared he would pursue the MaViGun (Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur) corridor as an alternative to Amaravati, Naidu’s capital project he has dubbed as a funds guzzler and corruption-ridden.
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