Chandrababu Naidu on mat over unpaid electricity bill

"I have come to know about it this morning. I am trying to verify the facts. The law cannot be different for a chief minister. I shall correct myself and also ensure that such lapses do not recur," Naidu said as the main Opposition, Congress, tried to turn the heat on the chief minister.

Raising the issue in the form of a supplementary during the Question Hour, Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy wondered why the Transco officials did not disconnect the supply when the bills were not cleared since six years.

"The Transco is acting tough in the case of small farmers by disconnecting the supply even if the arrears were a few thousands of rupees. Even cases were being booked against the ryots for failure to make the payment. How can the law be different for an ordinary person and the chief political executive of the State?" he questioned.

Citing an instance of (late) Babu Jagjivan Ram failing to file Income Tax for years, Rajasekhar Reddy demanded the resignation of the chief minister and placing the Transco officials, who failed to initiate action to recover the amount, under suspension.

Chandrababu Naidu did not hesitate to admit, repeatedly, that he was certainly at fault if the bills were really not paid. The chief minister said it was, however, not proper on the part of the Opposition to politicise the issue. "Several MLAs including your leader owe amounts to various government departments. Let us not try to derive political mileage out of it.".

The chief minister directed Transco managing director, who was sitting in the officials gallery in the House, to ensure that power connections belonging to those in arrears, irrespective of the position they held, should be straightaway be disconnected. "In fact, they should have done that in my case too," he remarked.

The Congress members staged a walkout from the House protesting against the chief minister’s "unsatisfactory" reply.