Karnataka govt creating artificial scarcity of power, says H D Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said on Saturday that the Congress government in the state was creating artificial scarcity of electricity.

He was addressing a news conference here on Saturday. 

Demanding that the government release a White Paper on power purchase,  Kumaraswamy said, “There is no power shortage, but the government is creating artificial scarcity to purchase power from private parties and get commission from them.”

“Energy Minister K J George has no dearth of money, but we don’t know if the Congress high command is demanding money from him. The minister has invited a team for generation of blue energy and announced purchase of coal from other countries,” he said.

Giving details about the power production capacity of the state, Kumaraswamy said, “We are capable of generating 3,906.6 MW from hydro sources, 5,020 MW from thermal plants, 2,050 MW from private producers and 17,848.74 MW from renewable energy, while 2,877.56 MW comes from central government,” he said.

Commenting about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar watching the Australia-Pakistan cricket match, Kumaraswamy said, “Did they go there to support Pakistan or Australia?”

Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s accusations, Shivakumar said, “We don’t care about their comments. If they are concerned about farmers and if they have done something when in power, they would have realised,” he said. 

Kumaraswamy had no knowledge about sports and culture, the deputy chief minister said.