Rs 6K-cr loss in power deal total lie: Jagadish

Hyderabad: Condemning the news reports that power purchase agreement with Chhattisgarh caused a loss of Rs 6,000 crore to Telangana, senior BRS leader G Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday said that every word in the article released by the government was false and alleged that both Congress and BJP were conspiring to send their party chief KCR to jail.

Addressing a press conference here with the Nalgonda district leaders, former Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy ruled out the previous government committed mistakes in the power purchases. He reiterated that Commission Chairman L Narasimha Reddy was made to address a press conference, which is against the rules. The Commission chairman presented whatever the Congress and BJP leaders intended to say. He recalled that BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao gave a detailed reply to the Commission and people have also clearly understood that whatever the government said was wrong. “Not even a single rupee loss was caused to the state exchequer by the previous government,” said Jagadish Reddy, adding that because of the efforts of the government, lakhs of rupees of the people were saved on inverters and generators.

The BRS leader said that within six months the government gave 24-hour power to all the sectors in the state. But Congress and BJP were creating doubts in the minds of the people. He said that if there was no agreement with Chhattisgarh, the state would have had to pay Rs 17,000 crore.

“Every word in the article is false. Can you talk publicly about this? Why did no minister or official talk about this? With what proof they are saying that there was a loss of Rs 6,000 crore,” asked Jagadish Reddy. He also asked whether BJP leader Bandi Sanjay would demand prosecution of Raman Singh.

The BRS leader found fault with the leaders questioning setting up of the plant in Nalgonda. “We will hit them with slippers if someone opposes the project in Nalgonda. Is Nalgonda not in Telangana? It is not the district which had a major role in the Telangana agitation,” he questioned.

Jagadish Reddy said that Telangana procured power at a rate of Rs 3.90 whereas at the same time Tamil Nadu procured for Rs 4.90. The BJP seems to be keen to arrest KCR with only intention to expand its party in Telangana. “Congress and BJP are conspiring against KCR,” said Reddy.