War of words erupt between BJP, Congress over Barmer refinery

NEW DELHI: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan has joined the political fight over who gets the credit for planning a refinery in Barmer by dubbing the efforts of the previous Congress government of Rajasthan in this regard as mere “electoral stunt”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to lay the foundation stone of the proposed 9 million tonnes Barmer refinery on January 16 — a move opposed by former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had already laid the foundation in 2013.

Congress and BJP have been engaged in a war of words over who should claim credit for the refinery. It was first planned during Gehlot’s term as chief minister in 2013, but the move was opposed by then opposition BJP, which went to polls in late 2013 with the promise of reworking the refinery deal if it came to power.


Pradhan said the state BJP government, as promised, had renegotiated the deal with Hindustan Petroleum, which is setting up the refinery, resulting in a saving of Rs 40,000 crore for Rajasthan. He said the previous Congress government’s laying of foundation stone was just an electoral stunt since it was done barely five days before the elections were announced in the state in 2013, and the proposed refinery was just a promise, without any land or clearances being secured for the project.

Under the BJP government, the joint venture of HPCL and Rajasthan state has been able to secure land, and obtain forest, environment and other statutory clearances, Pradhan said.