Energy minister suspects a bigger conspiracy to malign TS

Hyderabad: Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy suspects a 'larger conspiracy' behind the Union power ministry directing Telangana discoms to pay dues of  Rs.6,756 crore to AP Genco within a month. 

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was “deliberately creating troubles for Telangana government and TS discoms with the malafide intention of weakening both financially and causing hindrance to uninterrupted power  supply,” he said.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Reddy said, "I don't think this whole issue is about power dues. I have a hunch that this is part of a bigger conspiracy to push Telangana into darkness again. Lest one forgets, Telangana is the only state, which is providing uninterrupted and quality power supply to all sectors, while all other states are facing power cuts." Reddy cited some instances to substantiate his point of view.

"It's not just AP which approached the Centre seeking power dues of `6,756 crore from Telangana. The Telangana government also wrote dozens of letters to the Centre on the over `12,000 crore that AP owes to TS power utilities. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has personally taken the issue to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times. Now suddenly, the Union power ministry comes up with a new direction even as the Centre ignored TS pleas," he said.

The fact that the Centre imposed over `3,000 crore interest burden on Telangana on the issue of power dues reflects its 'discrimination' against TS, Reddy said. This was because the Chief Minister refused to install meters for agriculture pump sets two years ago.

“They recently tried to halt power purchase from power exchanges citing huge dues while the fact remained that there were no dues at all. Later, the Centre backtracked after we came out with the proof. Now, they are trying to create fresh trouble for TS power utilities," Reddy stated.