Ruling partners too at loggerheads

MUMBAI: Following in the footsteps of the saffron siblings, Shiv Sena-BJP, the ruling combine Congress-NCP seems to be heading for a major face-off. A committee constituted by the state Congress to study the power crisis has squarely blamed the NCP, in particular energy minister Dilip Valse Patil, for the state’s energy woes. The study categorically puts on record that “the power scenario in Maharashtra worsened after the NCP took over the energy department”.

The NCP has also been held responsible for the “fiasco” of private power plants in the state on the ground that the party biggies wanted “most of the plants to come up in Western Maharashtra and Konkan where it is relatively stronger”. “But none of the memorandum of understandings signed with several private players have materialised so far,” the report states.

Worse, the report, a copy of which is with ET, even blames NCP head honcho Sharad Pawar for “indirectly targeting Congress ministers whenever anything goes wrong in the state”. The committee, headed by Nagpur MLA Nitin Raut, would formally submit the report to the state Congress chief Prabha Rau within a couple of days, Congress sources said.

The report further says that the Congress, in particular Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, is perceived by the people as the main culprit for the power crisis even though it is the NCP that has held the energy portfolio since 1999 when the Democratic Front came to power. “It’s time Mr Valse-Patil was made accountable for his actions,” the report suggests.

A senior Congress functionary, who is aware of the report, said the study would certainly ruffle the feathers of all NCP leaders and expose them before the people. “Why should the Congress always take the blame? Of course, it’s collective responsibility,” he asked.