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The Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged a protest on Sunday, July 21 against the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led Andhra Pradesh government’s plan to allot the old RTC bus station land in Vijayawada to multinational conglomerate Lulu Group.
Spearheading the protest, CPI(M) leaders Babu Rao and D Kashinath told media that the move would hamper the interests of local traders and public assets. “This is economic colonisation,” Babu Rao said, adding that the move would affect small scale vendors.
The Old RTC bus stand, a five-acre parcel of land, is valued at approximately Rs 400 crore. Lulu Group Chairman MA Yusuf Ali announced last year that the company will start a shopping mall with an eight-screen IMAX multiplex in Visakhapatnam and state-of-the-art hypermarkets in Vijayawada with modern food processing and logistics centres.
AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) had approved setting up of these two Lulu Shopping Malls which they argued would provide employment for 15,000 people.
The CPI(M) held a similar protest in April 2025 against the establishment of another Lulu Mall in Visakhapatnam’s 13 acre Beach Road. CPI(M) leader Ganga Rao had said that the establishment of the mall was a clear violation of ‘Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.’