KCR wants rollback of power bill, else warns of fight

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to withdraw the bill to amend the electricity act in the interest of the country. He warned the Narendra Modi-led NDA government with a fightback if the former proceeded ahead with its plan. Union Minister for Power R K Singh introduced the electricity amendment bill 2022 in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Speaking in the Telangana Assembly on Tuesday, KCR criticized the Modi-led NDA regime for not consulting the states before passing bills in the Lok Sabha. "The centre, in the name of reforms for the power sector, is destroying the country and selling it to the corporate world," he said. The lower Sileru power projects that were allotted to the Telangana government by former prime minister Manmohan Singh were taken away from Telangana by the Modi government.

The chief minister also said that in the eight-year TRS rule, the farmers in Telangana had the benefit of uninterrupted power supply as promised by his government. "TRS came to power at the same time the BJP-led NDA assumed charge at the Centre. Telangana has increased its electricity consumption rate from 970 units to 2,126 units whereas the centre has increased the same from 956 units to 1,255 units which also includes the records of Telangana," said KCR.

The chief minister also said that he was the first person to criticize the Modi government and called them out for their indiscrimination and unfair treatment of Telangana. "The BJP government, in the name of reforms and schemes, is only fleecing the poor and the farmers," commented KCR. He further said that the power sector was an important factor in national development and corrupting the same would not benefit the nation. "We will fight back if the centre does not take back the proposed amendment," warned KCR.