BRS trashes media leaks on irregularities in Chhattisgarh PPA
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan here on Tuesday, Jagadish Reddy explained that without the Chhattisgarh agreement, the State would have paid Rs 17,000 crore for the same amount of electricity.
Hyderabad: Senior BRS leader and former Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday sharply criticised the Congress government and the Justice L Narasimha Reddy Commission for making baseless allegations against the previous BRS government.
He rubbished the reports that the State incurred a loss of Rs 6,000 crore in power purchases, questioning how was this possible when the entire cost was Rs.7,000 crore for the purchase of 17,000 million units of electricity from Chhattisgarh.
He also condemned media leaks against Chandrashekhar Rao, arguing that such actions were part of a broader conspiracy to malign the former Chief Minister. He argued that instead of a loss, the Chhattisgarh power contract resulted in a profit of more than Rs.6,000 crore for Telangana. He dismissed allegations of losses as entirely false and politically driven.
“If there was corruption, did the Chhattisgarh Chief Ministers from BJP and Congress benefit from these contracts?” he asked.
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan here on Tuesday, Jagadish Reddy explained that without the Chhattisgarh agreement, the State would have paid Rs 17,000 crore for the same amount of electricity.
“Before purchasing electricity from Chhattisgarh at Rs 3.90 per unit, we were buying electricity from Jharkhand at Rs.17 per unit,” he noted. He questioned how former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao could have caused losses to the State, when Chhattisgarh itself was claiming that it got less revenue than the cost incurred for power supply.
The former Minister accused the State government of setting up inquiry commissions with the intent to discredit the previous administration. He said the Commission was being used to spread misinformation and cast aspersios on Chandrashekhar Rao’s governance.
“The Commission’s preconceived notions and premature conclusions are evident,” he said, criticising Narasimha Reddy for agreeing to lead the investigation under these circumstances. Jagadish Reddy condemned media leaks against Chandrashekhar Rao, arguing that such actions were part of a broader conspiracy to malign Chandrashekhar Rao.
“There is a deliberate attempt to smear the former Chief Minister’s name. Why didn’t the Chief Minister and Ministers hold a press conference to address these issues openly?” he asked, reiterating that the Congress and the BJP conspired to target Chandrashekhar Rao which was evident from similar accusations being made by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and union Minister Bandi Sanjay.
