AAP threatens to cut power supply to Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh's residence

Opposition Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab on Friday threatened to cut off the power supply to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's residence in Patiala if the state government failed to scrap power purchase agreements with private plants. AAP MP and chief of the party's Punjab unit Bhagwant Mann accused the Congress-led government of having a "secret pact" with private thermal plants. "That is why the state government neither got the accounts of power companies audited nor revoked the PPAs even after being in power for more than three years now," he alleged.

"If the Amarinder Singh's government fails to terminate PPAs with private thermal plants inked by the previous Badal government during the current budget session, the Aam Aadmi Party will be forced to cut the power of Amarinder's Moti Mahal on March 16," Mann said in a statement here.

A decision in this regard was taken by the party's core committee, the statement added. Mann said the Congress had promised before the 2017 Assembly polls that it would review the PPAs after coming to power. "Amarinder Singh has the golden opportunity to terminate the anti-state PPAs in the current budget session, thus helping the people heave a sigh of relief from the recurring power shocks," he said.

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Power rates in Punjab 

The Amarinder Singh-led government has been facing criticism from the opposition parties over the rising power tariff in the state. The Akalis had also accused the Congress of "striking underhand deals" with the management of private thermal plants, resulting in a loss of Rs 4,100 crore to the state exchequer. Power rates in Punjab were hiked by 36 paise a unit from January 1 for domestic consumers.

On February 17, Amarinder Singh had said that his government would renegotiate the power purchase agreements with private players. The previous SAD-BJP government had signed PPAs with private companies for coal-fired power plants in Rajpura, Mansa and Goindwal Sahib. Meanwhile, the AAP's core committee on Thursday also adopted a "congratulatory resolution" over the third stunning victory of the party in the Delhi Assembly election under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal. 

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