BJP, Cong CMs chorus against free electricity

Two Congress chief ministers and an equal number of BJP chief ministers today spoke in one voice against free power for farmers.Participatin...

Two Congress chief ministers and an equal number of BJP chief ministers today spoke in one voice against free power for farmers.

Participating in India Today “State of the States” conclave here, the four CMs — Vasundhara Raje Scindia of Rajasthan, Uma Bharti of Madhya Pradesh, Amarinder Singh of Punjab and Virbhadra Singh of Himachal Pradesh — said free power was not what farmers want and they would rather have ‘‘assured quality power’’ for eight hours a day, even if they had to pay more.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy certainly would not have expected there won’t be many takers for his free power scheme for farmers in ‘‘absolute distress”. He argued that ‘‘compared to Europe, America and even Japan, subsidy in India is far less. If the farmer cannot make both ends meet, free power is a must’’. Former Orissa CM and veteran Congress leader J.B. Patnaik said: ‘‘What the farmer needs is marketability of goods at a remunerative price, not free power.”

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Vasundhara, whose state has slipped down two notches in this year’s performance list to the 13th rank, best articulated the anti-free power stand. ‘‘It is time that the free power myth was busted. Assured quality power for eight hours is what the farmers need. You don’t have to take extreme the step, they are willing to pay if they get what they want,’’ she said.

Claiming that the issue had a major role in deciding the verdict of the last Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara said what she found was that the farmers tended to revolt against the government if, after having been promised free power, they ended up getting ‘‘no power or poor quality power’’.

The Rajasthan CM’s view was endorsed not only by her MP counterpart Uma Bharti, but also by Amarinder and Virbhadra. While Amarinder said, ‘‘even elections cannot be won by giving free power’’, Virbhadra admitted his government had been under pressure from farmers to subsidise power. ‘‘They get ideas from other states. But they are finally unviable for any state’s economy,’’ Virbhadra said.

However, no clear picture emerged on the other issue of how to improve the states’ delivery system, with every CM, including Sikkim’s Pawan Chamling, strongly opposing the idea of direct transfer of Central funds to panchayats.