Consider all option to bring down cost of power including scrapping of PPAs: BJP

PATIALA: With the power consumers in Punjab reeling under high cost of electricity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the Congress government to consider all options to bring down the cost even if it includes scrapping of the long term power purchase agreements (PPAs), that had been signed by the previous SAD-BJP government in the state.
BJP state president Ashwini Sharma, who was in Patiala to hold a party workers’ meeting, said the commoner in Punjab were struggling to pay their power bills while the government has so far not initiated any steps to provide relief to the power consumers other than lip service.
In defence of the previous government, Sharma said, “Tough PPAs were signed by us, but we never allowed any hike in the power cost. I am sure a thorough investigation will bring out a multi-crore scam in this.”
Asked if the party was pushing ahead with its demand for more seats to contest in the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab, Sharma said, “I have been brought to the helm of the affairs within the party to take forward the party’s extension plans. While our alliance with SAD goes beyond politics and has a social background to it in Punjab, but it the inherent wish of every party to expand its base.”
He also targeted chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh claiming that even three years into the government he has failed on all pre-poll promises be it drugs, mining mafia, jobs for the unemployed, allowances to poor, development and even the financial stability. He said the ‘false picture of Punjab’ being presented by Capt Amarinder Singh in Delhi is unlike to impact the poll outcome as people in Delhi are as aware of the realities in Punjab as are the state residents.