Chandigarh, August 13
“The government and the ruling Congress have started playing new tricks to mislead the people on the issue of cancellation of power deals.” The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will next week expose the hypocrisy of the ruling Congressmen with facts and documentary evidence; to which the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh as well as Punjab Pradesh Congress president Navjot Sidhu would have to give an honest answer to the people of Punjab. Accusing the ruling Congress for this, the challenge was made by AAP’s senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Friday, Harpal Singh Cheema said the Aam Aadmi Party had played a massive role through its planned campaign in villages and cities over the last several years to create awareness among all the sections of Punjab about the deadly Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). He said the expensive electricity and faulty agreements emerged as major issues. Cheema said the people tormenting on the blind looting of power mafia and the pressure of the Opposition, shook the government and then the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was forced to write letters to the PSPCL to cancel the PPAs and the PPC president Navjot Singh Sidhu had started shouting slogans to cancel the agreements in the forthcoming session of the Assembly.
“But in reality it is all a sham and a clumsy ploy to fool the people of Punjab; because in the 2022 general elections, the people have made up their minds to oust the Congress on the issue of expensive power along with other future issues,” said Cheema. He said under this ploy, the move was aimed at giving publicity and impetus by canceling three power deals with Anta, Auraiya and Dadri power stations sponsored by the National Power Thermal Corporation (NTPC), as if the government had canceled the agreements with the three popular robbing thermal plants (Rajpura, Goindwal Sahib, Talwandi Sabo).
Harpal Singh Cheema said the Aam Aadmi Party had been struggling for years to get all the expensive power deals canceled or reviewed from the streets to the assembly. “The party thanks the people for taking seriously the issue of costly power raised by the AAP and for putting the ruling government and the Congressmen along with the Badals on trial for cracking down the government-sponsored power mafia,” he added. Cheema said due to pressure, today after four-and-a-half-years, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the newly appointed Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu had admitted that unilateral agreements with private companies were robbing Punjab and the people financially.
“Despite this, neither Captain Amarinder Singh nor Navjot Singh Sidhu has clear intentions and policies regarding the costly power deals made with Vedanta, GBT, L & T along with Bikram Singh Majithia and other political elites,” said Cheema. He reiterated that the Aam Aadmi Party would next week expose Captain Amarinder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Badal-Majithia to the public with facts and evidence regarding the agreements reached with the private power companies.
