Row over DyCM's '5 hr power' remark

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar has found himself in the eye of a storm in neighbouring Telangana where he is campaigning.

Shivakumar said that despite the prevalent drought in Karnataka and the scarcity of water in the state’s reservoirs, the State government had been providing five hours of electricity to farmers.

However, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has interpreted the statement to mean that Congress would only be able to provide five hours of power.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president was referring to the State government buying electricity from other states at expensive prices and ensuring that farmers had five hours of uninterrupted power for their pump sets so as to enable them to irrigate their small landholdings.

Shivakumar has been campaigning in Telangana at the behest and request of the Congress high command. “But still we are giving five hours of power supply to farmers despite the drought situation,” he told a crowd in English during a road show in Vikarabad district.

The issue was complicated further when the statement was found to be somewhat consistent with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A Revanth Reddy.

During the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) meeting, Reddy had declared that three hours of power was enough for small scale farmers to irrigate their lands, pointing out that 95 percent of farmers in Telangana held land that was less than three acres in size.

BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao launched a blistering attack on Shivakumar in response. Rao, deploying increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Congress, asked Shivakumar if he had any shame to brag about providing five hours of power.

“We are proceeding with a renewed sense of confidence. Congress leaders come to the state and promise electricity supply for five-hours. They don’t know that we supply power round the clock,” Rao hit back.