Kanna asks Jagan to reconsider power sector decisions

He alleged that the CM's principal advisor Ajeya Kallam intentionally misled people on Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

July 04, 2020 03:35 pm | Updated 03:38 pm IST - VIJAYAWADA

Kanna Lakshminarayana

Kanna Lakshminarayana

BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana requested Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to reconsider his government's “short-sighted and rash” decisions in the power sector.

He alleged that the CM's principal advisor Ajeya Kallam not only intentionally misled people on Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) but also ventured to criticise Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s advice to the State for judicious and proper management of energy.

In a letter to the CM on July 4, he questioned Mr. Kallam’s claimed that the government had not withdrawn from the PPAs and sought explanation for why the Singapore, French, Japanese, South Korean and German embassies had warned the State. He asked if it wasn’t a fact that the Japanese Ambassador had written a letter in that regard on August 14, 2019.

The BJP leader said power tariffs in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat were lower than in Andhra Pradesh. Instead of giving reasons for buying power at ₹11 per unit, Mr. Kallam concealed the clandestine intentions of the State, he alleged.

Mr. Lakshminarayana pointed out that the State government brought disrepute to the country by undertaking a review of the PPAs and violating court orders.

He further said Union Minister of Power R.K. Singh had stated in a press conference in Hyderabad that there was no evidence of irregularities in the PPAs as alleged by the State government.

The A.P. BJP chief said the central government was against altering the power policies as and when the State government changed but Mr. Reddy was taking arbitrary decisions.

He alleged that the State government had increased power tariffs twice in one year and was purchasing power at exorbitant rates.

In the name of reverse tendering, the government stalled the 940-MW Polavaram hydroelectric power plant and bungled on various other fronts in the sensitive energy sector, Mr. Lakshminarayana added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.