Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 11 Stepping up his attack on V D Satheesan over the GNA power purchase row, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday strongly demanded that the chief minister face an investigation into the matter, accusing him of “lying” about the government’s proposal to purchase power through the private trading platform.
In a statement, Vijayan reiterated his demand for a judicial probe into the matter and claimed that an “invisible shadow group” appeared to be controlling files from outside the Secretariat.
The opposition leader was hitting back at Satheesan, who had earlier in the day, at a press conference here, blamed the previous LDF government for creating the power crisis in the state due to their alleged lack of long-term planning.
He also contended that Vijayan was making contradictory statements and was being briefed incorrectly by someone.
Responding to the CM’s remarks, the opposition leader said Satheesan’s “dialogues” in front of the cameras will not whitewash the wrong things done by him and his administration.
Vijayan said that the opposition has been saying right from the start that there is no real power crisis in Keralam and that it has been “artificially created” by the current government to pave the way for massive corruption under the cover of large power purchase agreements. That is why the people were kept in the dark through the power cuts, he claimed.
“Now the chief minister himself has had to publicly admit that there is no electricity crisis in the state,” he added.
Vijayan also accused the CM of “spreading the lie” that it was the opposition leader who advocated for the purchase of electricity from Himachal Pradesh and challenged Satheesan to prove he called for the purchase of power from the north Indian state.
The CPI(M) veteran claimed that it was Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph who, in an interview to a Malayalam daily, stated that there is a severe power crisis in the state.
He also claimed that it was Joseph who said that the former KSEB chairman’s recommendation, about a long-term power contract with Himachal Pradesh being beneficial for the state, was absolutely correct.
Vijayan questioned for whom the CM insisted on purchasing electricity at high rates through the GNA platform, ignoring the strict warnings of the Regulatory Commission.
He said that the investigation being directed against the former KSEB chairman should actually be focused on the CM, as he was “at the helm of the mysterious transactions with General Network Access (GNA) by making the government and the cabinet mere spectators.”
“The chief minister has admitted to the media that he had ‘discussed with all the right people’ to decide on the file he received. Who is that invisible shadow group that is sitting outside the Secretariat and controlling the files,” Vijayan asked.
He said that the previous LDF government did not enter into any contract to purchase even a single unit of electricity without the approval of the Regulatory Commission and without a legal tender, but such procedures were disregarded by the CM.
“Therefore, when the plan to commit a huge robbery by entering into a contract with the GNA failed, the blame should not be placed on the previous LDF government,” Vijayan said.
He claimed that it was during the UDF government of 2011–2016 that controversial long-term thermal power contracts were signed with private companies on the Design, Build, Finance, Own, and Operate (DBFOO) model.
It created severe financial burdens and regulatory hurdles, and there was only a negligible increase in the domestic generation capacity (installed capacity) in the state, the opposition leader said.
He claimed that it was during the LDF government’s rule that there was a “leap” in Keralam’s installed capacity through new projects and renewable energy sources.
Additionally, the state’s future energy security was secured by entering into 12 transparent long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for a total of 2,122 MW for green energy, including solar, wind and battery, and coal-fired power, at low rates ranging from Rs 2.44 to Rs 3.83 per unit, the opposition leader said.
He said that till the truth comes out, there will be a strong political struggle against the CM’s “mysterious moves” that kept his own minister in the dark, and the interventions of “invisible groups”.
(PTI News)
