DEHRADUN: Recently voted into office in Uttarakhand, the BJP has begun to ladle out dirt on its predecessor Congress regime.
It said on Tuesday Harish Rawat's government tweaked its power purchase agreements with power suppliers to favour some gas-based power plants, which led to a hike in electricity tariff.
"The previous government struck a deal with gas-based power plants in Kashipur to purchase power for 35 years at the rate of Rs 4.70 per unit at a time when its rate should have been just Rs 2.74 per unit,"
Uttarakhand BJP spokesman Vinay Goel said in Dehradun. "This caused a loss of Rs 50 crore per month to the state exchequer."
It is a "power scam" worth at least 1000 crore rupees, he added.
Goel said power tariff had to be hiked by the new regime of Trivendra Singh Rawat so as to make up the losses caused by the sweetheart deals struck by the Harish Rawat government.
Goel said he brought this to the attention of the new chief minister, who is said to have replied that no one who is guilty would be spared.
After the new regime came to power, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulation Commission effected a 5.72 per cent hike in power rates, which evoked a sharp reaction from the Congress, now in opposition.