Harish urges Rahul Gandhi to stop Congress govt. from privatising power utilities

HYDERABAD

Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly T. Harish Rao has sought the intervention of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to counsel the Congress party’s government in Telangana to stop the proposed privatisation of power utilities in the State – TG-Transco, TG-Genco, three Discoms and Singareni Collieries.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Rahul Gandhi on Friday, Mr. Rao said the Congress party had opposed the privatisation of LIC of India and power sector in some States. However, the Congress government in Telangana had resorted to the same now by proposing to privatise the power utilities and handover some stake to private companies, to begin with.

He pointed out that it was not merely a policy issue of the Congress government in Telangana but it would raise fundamental questions about the Congress party’s consistency and credibility on the issue of privatisation since Mr. Gandhi had been vocal against the BJP-led Centre’s such moves.

Stating that the Congress party had restricted disinvestment to non-core and non-strategic public sector companies in its 2019 election manifesto, the BRS leader brought to the notice of Mr. Gandhi that in its plenary at Raipur in 2023, the Congress party had emphasised that disinvestment should not result in private monopolies or duopolies. If the Congress party was committed to its declared economic policies, it should apply to its Congress in Telangana too, he said.

“A Congress Working Committee (CWC) resolution can’t be binding in Delhi and optional in Hyderabad,” Mr. Rao said, adding that the move by the party’s government in Telangana was directly contradicting the party’s 2019 manifesto and the Raipur resolution. He noted that all public sector utilities proposed to be privatised by the Congress government were strategic ones and their privatisation would affect farmers and low income group families badly.

The BRS leader requested the AICC leader to suggest the Congress Government in Telangana to stop the proposed privatisation with an IPO of Transco initially so that no further steps were taken towards dilution or privatisation of the strategic public sector institutions.