Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday, 30 April, took to Twitter to hit out at the Narendra Modi-led Union government over its management of the power and coal crisis faced by several states during the ongoing heatwave.
"Government has found the perfect solution" for the power crisis - "cancel passenger trains and run coal rakes! Modi hai, mumkin hai," the Rajya Sabha MP wrote on Twitter.
"Abundant coal, large rail network, unutilised capacity in thermal plants. Yet, there is acute power shortage Modi Government cannot be blamed. It is because of 60 years of Congress rule!" Chidambaram said in a tweet laced with sarcasm.
"There is no incompetence in the Ministries of Coal, Railway or Power. The blame lies with past Congress ministers of the said departments!" he continued.
Chidambaram's tweets come amid a crisis of coal and power in the country.
Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren also took a jibe at the central government, raising objections to allegations of states not having paid dues.
"Find out what the situation is in the current power crisis and how much one owes," Soren said, noting that his state had written to the Centre asking for repayment of over Rs 1,30,000 crores in dues pertaining to coal, revenue from mining areas and so on, reported ANI.
As per the Power Ministry's own data, 14 out of 36 states and union territories are currently facing a power shortage.
India's power demand peaked to its all time high figure of 207.11 GW on Friday, while the railways reportedly cancelled as many as 42 passenger trains to facilitate the movement of coal freight on priority.
Opposition parties including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have alleged that Centre was not providing logistical support for supply of coal to power plants.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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