Pinarayi Vijayan alleges conspiracy behind Kerala’s power purchase deal, targets CM Satheesan
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Thiruvananthapuram: Nearly six months after stepping down as Kerala Chief Minister, CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the V.D. Satheesan government of creating an artificial power crisis to facilitate corruption, escalating a political row over the state’s electricity procurement plans.
Addressing the media on Friday, Vijayan questioned why Chief Minister Satheesan was overriding the positions of the Kerala State Electricity Board and Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph on the proposed purchase of 500 MW through GNA Energy instead of accepting a revised offer from Himachal Pradesh.
He said routine power-sector decisions should rest with the Board, and asked why the Chief Minister was bypassing the Electricity Department, the Minister and KSEB to take a unilateral decision. “Doesn’t this raise the suspicion that something unusual is happening behind the scenes?” he said.
Vijayan alleged that the GNA arrangement lacked a tender or transparent procurement process and questioned the role of the platform itself. He said GNA was a digital over-the-counter trading platform rather than a power generator, and demanded to know whose electricity it would supply, which company would generate it, and who the middlemen were.
He claimed that KSEB’s assessment had warned of financial losses, and said the government should have discussed and corrected any flaws in the study rather than rejecting it outright. He also disputed Satheesan’s claim that no official communication had been sent by the Board, saying the correspondence was already public.
Vijayan further alleged that former KSEB chairman and IAS officer M. Rajamanickam was transferred after flagging irregularities and refusing to fall in line. He said Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph had recorded a note in the official file favouring the Himachal Pradesh proposal, contradicting the Chief Minister’s position.
The dispute centres on competing cost estimates: the government has defended the GNA deal as a saving, while opposition leaders and KSEB officials have cited concerns over higher costs, legal hurdles and unfavourable contract terms.
(Inputs from IANS)