Eye on poll, BJP swallows Cong power bill in MP

With Uma in Delhi, Minister for Urban Development Babulal Gaur, the senior-most minister, confirmed the decision was taken at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. ‘‘We have decided to approve the waiver. The Electricity Board is in a bad financial state so we have assured them that we will pay the amount to them. It was necessary as we don’t have enough money to pay right away — we will do so over a period of time. A committee of ministers will look at the issues related to the decision, including the need to raise loans for the payment.’’

Refusing to comment on reports in the vernacular media on the issue, all Power Minister Gauri Shankar Shejwar would say was that the matter is under consideration.

The difference between Gaur’s admission and Shejwar’s non-committal stand has much to do with the difficulties with a decision the government is in no hurry to commit to. With no money to back the decision Uma is trying to ensure that the Centre bails her government out. Apart from Shejwar, other government functionaries, including the new Public Relations Commissioner Satyaprakash, professed ignorance. ‘‘We stand by our press note issued yesterday. I can’t say if anything was revealed by ministers in informal discussions.’’

Another reason why the government appears reluctant to admit to the decision is that Uma, while speaking on the Governor’s address in the Assembly a fortnight ago, had sought to embarrass Digvijay on the issue by reading out excerpts from a high court judgment highlighting the problems with the decision.

The judgment should now return to haunt her. Of the Digvijay Cabinet decision, the high court had observed: ‘‘Since no budgetary provision has been made, it is curious how the buck is being passed to the next government. The exercise appears to have been done without proper application of mind and without due regard to the Board’s financial constraints. Ultimately, the common man will be burdened with higher tariff and more frequent power cuts. We prima-facie hold that the waiver will be at the expense of common man and is without budgetary sanction and cannot be in public interest.’’

While the government decision to take on the burden relieves the Board, Gaur’s words are a clear indication that the government has done so without any idea of where the funds will come from.