While former chief minister and BJP State president B S Yeddyurappa alleged coal scam against the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the State Government in turn has made serious allegation against Yeddyurappa and Shobha Karandlaje, of a Rs 28,000 crore scam from the same department reported Kannada Prabha.
The scam is said to be during the time when Yeddyurappa was the chief minister and Shobha Karandlaje was the Power Minister. It is said that the State Government is planning to present a report regarding the scam that cost Rs 28,000 crores to the State exchequer. It is said that Power Minister D K Shivakumar has called a meeting on the legilative committee on Oct 30 and he will seek permission from the committee.
It is interesting to see if H D Kumaraswamy who had stayed away from the legislative committee meetings alleging that D K Shivakumar was attempting to protect Yeddyurappa and Shobha Karandlaje, will attend the meeting and sign the committee report. Shobha Karandlaje is allegedly involved in the scam. The company was willing to charge Rs 3.50 per unit but the government fixed a rate of Rs 6.20 and approved the tender. The tender was given even when the Power Department officials objected.
Former CM and JD(S) State President and also the member of the legislative committee had submitted the documents 2 months ago regarding the scam. The State Government is now using it to act against BJP.
State, Central governments purchase power from private companies in three ways – short term (one year), mid term (7 years) and long term (25 years). In 2010 the power department had floated a tender for the purchase of 1580 MW power for long term supply. B S Yeddyurappa was the chief minister and Shobha Karandlaje was the Power Minister at that time. Jindal Company had offered to supply power at Rs 3.50 per MW and the Cabinet had approved the tender to be given to Jindal.
Shobha Karandlaje requested the government to cancel the tender stating it is on the higher side and requested to call the tender again. The chief engineer of Power Department (Projects) wrote to Yeddyurappa and requested that the rate quoted by Jindal was most apt and to continue with it.
However, the tender was cancelled and another tender was called. This time, within a few days, the same Jindal Company was sanctioned the tender to supply power for a year on short term contract at Rs 6.20 per MW. This was an increase per MW by 90 per cent. This has caused a loss of Rs 28,000 crores to the State exchequer. H D Kumaraswamy has mentioned these details in the committee report.
Responding to this allegation Shobha Karandlaje said she had no role to play in the entire tender process. She said only government officials played a major decisive role and she was not a part of it. She insisted that the case must be handed over to CBI to let the truth reveal. But it was BJP government ruling at the time.