Navjot Singh Sidhu today put out nine tweets attacking Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh over the state's power crisis, proving that it would take more than meetings with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to silence him as the Congress battles an unrelenting feud ahead of polls in the state.
"There is no need for power cuts in Punjab or for the Chief Minister to regulate office timings or AC use of the common people ... if we act in the right direction," the cricketer-turned-politician wrote in a Twitter thread.
Amarinder Singh is in charge of the power ministry; Mr Sidhu had been offered the ministry when he resigned in 2019 over what he saw as a downgrade in his role in the state government.
To tackle Punjab's unprecedented power outages amid peak summer demand, the Chief Minister has cut short office hours and reduced supply to some industries.
The tweets, shooting at many targets, also attacked the previous Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali Dal-BJP government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has promised 300 units of free power if it wins next year's Punjab election.
Mr Sidhu appears to suggest that the Chief Minister should review the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) signed by the Badals with private thermal plants.
The tweets come after Mr Sidhu was reportedly told in meetings with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to tone down on his public attacks at the Chief Minister.
Mr Sidhu said in his tweets that Punjab was paying much more for power than other states because of its "over-dependence" on three private thermal plants.
He blamed the Badal government for signing agreements that required the state to pay more to these plants.
"Punjab can purchase power from the national grid at much cheaper rates, but these Badal-signed PPAs are acting against Punjab's public interest. Punjab may not be able to re-negotiate these PPAs due to them having legal protection from the courts, but there is a way forward..," Mr Sidhu wrote.
The former Punjab minister suggested new legislation with retrospective effect to cap power purchase costs to prices available on the National Power Exchange. "Thus, by amending the law, these agreements will become null and void, saving people of Punjab's money (sic)," he wrote.
Mr Sidhu said Punjab's revenue per unit of consumption was one of the lowest in India due to "gross mismanagement" of the complete power purchase and supply system.
"Renewable energy is becoming cheaper along with being environmental-friendly, but Punjab's potential from solar and biomass energy remains unutilised even though central financial schemes can be availed for these projects. PEDA (Punjab Energy Development Agency) spends its time just on energy efficiency awareness," he said.
"Punjab already gives 9,000 crore power subsidy but Delhi gives only 1,699 crore as power subsidy. If Punjab copies Delhi Model, we will get merely 1,600-2,000 crore as subsidy. To better serve the People of Punjab - Punjab needs an Original Punjab Model, Not a copied Model!!"" - he wrote.
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