Pinarayi Vijayan Demands Judicial Probe into GNA Power Deal

Thiruvananthapuram: The cancellation of the GNA agreement has exposed what was allegedly a massive attempt to fleece the public by creating a false impression of a power shortage in the state and instilling fear of power cuts, Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan said. He demanded a judicial inquiry led by a High Court judge into the alleged corruption, which he claimed was directly overseen by the Chief Minister.

The opposition's position that there was no power crisis in the state has been fully vindicated, Pinarayi said. The government was forced to withdraw only after the opposition and the media exposed irregularities with evidence. He alleged that the Chief Minister had attempted to impose a huge financial burden on the public in the name of a crisis that did not exist.

Pinarayi described as blatant corruption the Chief Minister's direct intervention to award a high-priced contract to a private intermediary platform that had no power generation capacity and was not even an electricity trader. This was allegedly done by overriding the objections of the KSEB and bypassing the tender process.

The fact that even the department minister had to learn about crucial decisions and the cancellation of the agreement through media reports showed that the Cabinet's constitutional principle of collective responsibility had been completely undermined, he said. The Chief Minister's decision-making without keeping even the Electricity Minister, who is also the KPCC president, informed had further deepened suspicions surrounding the deal.

He also said he understood that the Chief Minister's Office had facilitated the purchase of 200 MW of electricity from a company named VEN Global in October at Rs 11 per unit. This transaction, too, was shrouded in mystery, as it was carried out without a tender or the approval of the Regulatory Commission.

These developments pointed to external interventions centred around the Chief Minister's Office, he said. After the alleged corruption was exposed, the Chief Minister was attempting to evade responsibility by ordering an inquiry based on a report by a former KSEB chairman and making officials scapegoats, Pinarayi alleged.

He demanded that the Chief Minister answer the serious questions raised over the deal. The actual beneficiaries behind the alleged attempt to manufacture an artificial power crisis and pave the way for massive corruption must be identified. The interests behind decisions taken without even involving the department minister must also be brought to light, he said.

He questioned the rationale behind imposing an additional financial burden without first examining whether the proposal to purchase electricity from Himachal Pradesh was necessary in the first place. The opposition had earlier demanded that the government release all files related to the agreement.

A comprehensive judicial inquiry was the only way to examine the entire issue, including the Chief Minister's role, Pinarayi said.