BENGALURU: JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday accused the ruling Congress government in Karnataka of creating an artificial scarcity of electricity to fill the coffers of the party high command. “Although there is ample opportunity for power generation from various sources, artificial shortage has been created in Karnataka to buy power from private companies. The State Government has been trying to collect commission by purchasing electricity from private companies to fund the Congress in the upcoming elections to five states and the Lok Sabha,” the former chief minister alleged.
He said Karnataka has a capacity to generate 9,947 MW of power. “The government, however, is creating artificial scarcity of electricity resulting in havoc. All this is done to collect commission. Energy Minister KJ George may not need it as he is not short of money... the Congress high command might be putting pressure on him to collect the commission. The government knows very well how to create an environment to loot money from its schemes as it has been planning to import coal from abroad at a higher price,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.
“The energy minister has constituted a team to study blue energy to generate electricity from the sea. But for now, he should focus on solving people’s problems at the earliest. CM Siddaramaiah revealed that the state was facing a shortage of 15,000 MW of electricity, necessitating power purchase. But the government remained inactive for five months, attributing the crisis to the prior government’s actions,” he pointed out.
“There is no effort to produce electricity as the priority seems to be on implementing the guarantees... this is unacceptable... ,” he said.