NEW DELHI, May 19: The BJP-led Government today reiterated its opposition to the idea of providing counter-guarantees, saying it had merely extended such a provision for the three power projects because of the commitment given by the previous regime.Pramod Mahajan, the Prime Minister's political adviser, today denied there was any difference of opinion between him and Union Power Minister PR Kumaramangalam in this regard. ``I contacted him this morning after reading reports to this effect in today's newspapers,'' Mahajan said, adding, ``There is no confusion as far as our perceptions are concerned.''He also disclosed that the Government had not yet given clearance to the Bhadravati power project because it had yet to receive the go-ahead from the Defence Ministry.He then went on to outline the official position on the matter. ``We are opposed to counter-guarantees which lower the total risk of a project,'' the PM's political advisor said. In this context, he referred to the example of the Enron projectwhere the counter-guarantee had been extended to cover the revenue streams also. ``No such guarantee will be supported by the Government of India,'' he added.According to him, even in the case of the three power projects, it had diluted the provision. ``We have sought to cover the foreign debt portion, that too at the termination of the project.''He also sought to clarify the confusion created reportedly by Kumaramangalam's statement. ``He merely spoke about a trade-off facility,'' Mahajan pointed out, adding, ``He said that he was ready to think about giving counter-guarantee to a firm if it was ready to provide electricity at a very cheap rate.''
