Enron will be totally reviewed if NCP comes to roost, says Chavan

The NCP now wants to turn the heat on Munde. “He is deceiving the State, he is deceiving all of us. He did this when he opposed the project, later when he catapulted to re-negotiate it and went ahead to accept the second phase too. Munde has now accepted that the per unit rate would be above Rs 3,” said Chavan. The entire project would be reviewed in a fresh light if the NCP comes to power because there are clauses in the present agreement which will completely drain out the MSEB and State coffers.

The per unit rate will not only be Rs 3 but increase to even Rs 5 soon, said Chavan, since the rate was linked to the dollar exchange rate which was fluctuating and expected to remain unfavourable to the rupee. Also with an increase in the purchase price of naptha, the per unit price of Enron’s electricity will increase, added Chavan.

The NCP has also asked the state government to come clean on the union textile minister Kanshiram Rana’s recent statement that the government had agreed to reconsider the monopoly cotton procurement scheme. The government cannot give such a commitment on such an important policy without consulting the Assembly and the cotton growers, said Chavan. If the scheme is reviewed and changed, it will have major repercussions in Marathwada and Vidarbha, he said.

Rane’s resignation demanded

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has called upon Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to instruct his Chief Minister to resign in the wake of a suicide by a Sena local leader in Solapur district over the failure of the alliance government.

Siddeshwar Mane, gat pramukh in village Bhand-Shegaon near Pandharpur, committed suicide with a clear statement in his suicide note addressed to the district collector that he was forced to take the step since the Sena-BJP government had failed to honour its promises. Mane was apparently pained that all his efforts to get irrigation facilities to his village had failed during the alliance regime and despite his repeated visits to Mantralaya during the last few years.

The NCP spokesperson Vasant Chavan said on Wednesday that Thackeray, who always declared that his strength came from the Sainiks must take a serious note of this incident and instruct chief minister Narayan Rane to vacate his chair. It’s the strongest evidence if it was ever needed that the alliance government has failed; even their own people are saying it openly, said Chavan.