Satheesan, Pinarayi trade sharp words over power supply deals in Keralam

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) has again challenged Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan to make public all documents related to his decision to opt for electricity supply from GNA Energy OTC over a Himachal Pradesh government offer, even as Mr. Satheesan maintained that the decision was taken after careful examination of both proposals. The then KSEB Chairman and Managing Director M.G. Rajamanickam’s note to the government had said that the GNA proposal “also can be considered,” Mr. Satheesan said on Saturday.

“Is the Leader of the Opposition (Pinarayi Vijayan), who continues to criticise the decision to procure electricity via GNA, unaware of this note? Or is he feigning ignorance?” the Chief Minister said.

Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Vijayan accused the Chief Minister of fleeing from the charges levelled against him by the Opposition and deepening the mystery and confusion over the power purchase proposals. “There is no dispute over the fact that the Minister concerned (Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph) had noted his opinion in favour of the Himachal Pradesh government offer after official discussions. On the basis of what law and criteria did the Chief Minister decide in favour of GNA Energy?” Mr. Vijayan said.

If Mr. Satheesan was indeed convinced that he is in the right, what prevented him from making public all the files, the letter written to the government by the KSEB, and Cabinet notes on the power purchase decision, Mr. Vijayan asked.

In a strongly worded statement a few hours later, the Chief Minister responded that the decision was taken after studying the file, and that the UDF government does not “sign on any tissue paper that comes before it.” “The Opposition Leader is repeatedly asking where the documents are. When you (Mr. Vijayan) were Chief Minister, did you ever give the Opposition any of the documents that it asked for? Even questions were not answered. The CPI(M) union in the KSEB has given you all the files. If you need more, you can always obtain them through institutional means,” Mr. Satheesan said.

On Friday, the Chief Minister had termed the Opposition charges “baseless” and reiterated his original argument that the GNA offer was favourable for the State in terms of the per-unit price and peak-hour needs. Mr. Satheesan had also sought to dismiss Mr. Vijayan’s allegation that the UDF government was creating an “artificial power crisis” to serve the interests of corporate power-sector monopolies. Mr. Satheesan also quoted from an October 26 letter sent by the Mr. Rajamanickam: “An immediate decision is imperative, as the proposal has been under consideration for more than two weeks. The State’s existing power shortage, compounded by deficient rainfall, constrained hydro availability and the reported El Niño conditions, leaves little scope to absorb further supply uncertainty. If the available power is lost without an equivalent firm replacement, KSEB may be left with no practical option but to impose prolonged power cuts, including during the critical summer months. Further delay therefore carries a direct risk to continuity of electricity supply across Kerala.”