CHANDIGARH, June 10 — The Punjab unit of the BJP, an ally of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the State Government, has come out in open to checkmate the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on the power tariff hike issue.

A statement issued by Mr Avinash Jaiswal, General Secretary of the state unit of the BJP on behalf of the party unit President, Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, said the proposed hike in the tariff was unfair. It has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Badal to withhold the hike as there is a Finance Resource Mobilisation Cabinet Sub- committee wherein such decisions are taken. In other words, the BJP wanted that the meeting of the sub committee should be held before taking any decision on resource mobilisation.

The statement further says that “it is in the fitness of things that instead of taking piecemeal resource mobilisation steps like power tariff hike, these should be taken in totality with regard to the agriculture sector, industrial, commercial and domestic sector so that a proper balance of equity and justice is maintained”.

From the statement it is clear that the BJP wanted that Mr Badal should include the farming sector in the tariff hike proposals and there should be no provision of free power for the farming sector. In a very subtle manner, the BJP has conveyed to Mr Badal that there was a need to maintain a “proper balance of equity and justice” in the state. It is significant to recall that the trading and industrial sector, a backbone of BJP in the state, have strongly opposed the subsidisation of power to the farming sector.

In fact, not only the BJP but some senior Akali leaders like Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and the Power Minister, Mr Sikander Singh Maluka, have also expressed their opinion publicly that there should be no free power facility to farming sector and farmers should be charged for consuming power for agriculture purpose. However, Mr Maluka has stated that small farmers with a holding less than 10 acres may be given free power facility but those who can afford to pay should be made to pay.

Today’s statement of the BJP against the power hike has put Mr Badal in a very awkward position. The Chief Minister had held a meeting with the representatives of the industry and the management of the Punjab State Electricity Board on June 8 in his office to discuss the issue of power hike. He had constituted a committee of board officials and representatives of the industry to decide the power hike quantum within three days. However, in the light of the BJP’s latest position on tariff issue, it would not be possible for Mr Badal to go ahead to announce the power hike next week.