Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday rejected allegations by CPM and opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan that the power crisis was artificially created to facilitate an electricity purchase deal through GNA Energy, saying no agreement had been signed.Responding to power minister Sunny Joseph and UDF convener Adoor Prakash, who complained they learnt of govt decisions through the media, he said all decisions were taken collectively in the cabinet.The KSEB file had warned of power cuts from Nov 1, he said. “According to the file placed before me by KSEB, the state would face prolonged power cuts if I did not sign the agreement. Even then, I did not sign it.”Files with serious policy and financial implications should not be cleared in haste, he said. He was unsure whether KSEB had deliberately misled him.The file offered two options: Buying power from Himachal Pradesh at Rs 14.50 per unit, or from GNA Energy at Rs 8.63 per unit. It also noted that Himachal Pradesh’s power had gone to Rajasthan by Oct 18 at over Rs 15 per unit, leaving GNA the only option.Asked to choose, he had preferred GNA as it could reduce the financial burden, he said. “But I never directed anyone to go ahead and sign an agreement. I only asked them to examine the option.”The govt then decided to examine whether it needed to buy power now. “The electricity minister was right when he said there was no requirement currently. Therefore, we decided not to purchase it,” he said.He sidestepped Joseph’s complaint that he was unaware of the decision to drop the GNA purchase. “The file had come from the power minister to me. After taking the decision, the file will go back to the power minister. That is the usual procedure,” he said.Prakash said Joseph, as KPCC president, had already spoken openly about collective responsibility in the cabinet. Still awaiting the Congress high command’s response to his complaint that Satheesan was taking decisions unilaterally, he, however, cautioned against reading his remarks as a sign of differences with the chief minister.
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