The high cost power purchase agreements (PPAs) and related issues in power sector are expected to spark off a political tussle in the forthcoming legislature session as Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah has demanded a White Paper on comparison of PPAs between Gujarat and Karnataka particularly when the Congress ruled Karnataka.
Mr. Siddaramaiah made the demand while launching a counter attack on Energy Minister V. Sunil Kumar who had accused him of causing a huge financial burden on energy sector by not releasing the subsidy amount towards consumption of irrigation pump sets. The Energy Minister had also indicated that the high cost PPAs signed during the erstwhile Congress regime were a burden on the present dispensation by saying that the Energy Department would try to renegotiate them.
Mr. Siddaramaiah demanded that the Energy Minister should bring out a White Paper on the PPAs signed by all the States from 2010 to 2022 so that a clear picture would emerge. Similarly, the government should release documents on PPAs signed by Narendra Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he demanded, and also sought that a White Paper should be brought out on comparison of PPAs between the BJP government in Gujarat and the erstwhile Congress government in Karnataka led by him.
