Enron issue comes full circle

MUMBAI, SEPT 2: Election time in Maharashtra seems to be Enron time as well. In a classic case of turning tables around, the Congress on ...

MUMBAI, SEPT 2: Election time in Maharashtra seems to be Enron time as well. In a classic case of turning tables around, the Congress on Thursday accused the Shiv Sena-BJP government of hoodwinking citizens about the cost of power, demanded that Phase I be re-negotiated while Phase II is kept on hold, and asserted that the Power Purchase Agreement PPA be made public. Almost exactly the issues that the Sena-BJP coalition had, five years ago, turned into a thunderous election campaign against the Congress government. And, reaped handsome rewards.

The Congress is even making promises similar to the ones made by the coalition then 8212; if we come to power, we will re-work the agreements to bring down the per unit price of power supplied by the Dabhol Power Corporation. 8220;Recent bills show that the per unit cost to the State Electricity Board is Rs 4.95. This when the Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Gopinath Munde said on the floor of the Assembly that the price would be Rs 3.10. At this rate, it willmean a loss of Rs 4,300 crore a year to the State. We want to set this right,8221; asserted Suresh Kalmadi, convenor of the Congress campaign committee.

Noble intentions but the party8217;s credibility on this issue is still suspect. After all, it was the Congress government led by the then chief minister Sharad Pawar in 1993-94 that negotiated the original deal with the US-based Enron Power Corporation without giving an ear to criticisms and suggestions made then. The PPA was a commercial document that could not be made public, said he and his aides. Only critics are spreading the canard that the per unit price of power will be in the region of Rs 4, they pooh-poohed. Then came along Munde with his now-famous declaration that, if elected, he would throw the Enron deal into the Arabian Sea.

Now, the Congress minus Pawar has found the courage to talk the language that the Sena-BJP did during the 1995 Assembly election campaign. Leaders are quick to disassociate themselves from the deeds of the then Congressgovernment. 8220;There were mistakes made by Pawar8217;s government. That doesn8217;t mean that we continue with them. At that time, only Pawar and his minister Padamsinh Patil knew exactly what was going on. The rest of us were kept in the dark. Even we didn8217;t get to see a copy of the PPA,8221; Kalmadi told The Indian Express.

Kalmadi quotes Indonesia8217;s example to prove that it8217;s possible to re-negotiate PPAs and contracts even after commercial production has started. 8220;There the re-negotiated rates were 70 per cent less. We can do it here too,8221; said Kalmadi. However, he carefully skipped mentioning the dreaded word 8212; scrapping. The party does not want a confrontation with the company, only 8220;an amicable settlement8221; of the issue. It means the Congress wants to be treated with importance in the boardrooms of Enron-DPC.

Ironically, Pawar8217;s Nationalist Congress Party too has declared that, if elected to power in the State, it will re-examine the re-negotiated PPA that Munde presided over. In 1995, Enron was afootball between two parties vying for power; now it8217;s three playing the game.