Pinarayi alleges graft, demands judicial probe into Keralam govt.’s GNA power purchase deal

Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has demanded a judicial inquiry headed by a High Court judge into the controversy surrounding the cancellation of the GNA power purchase deal. He alleged that the government had attempted to impose a huge financial burden on consumers by creating an artificial power crisis in the State.In a statement here, he claimed that the cancellation of the power purchase agreement was a vindication of the Opposition’s stance that there was no power crisis in Keralam. The government was forced to withdraw from the power purchase agreement only because the Opposition and the media exposed alleged irregularities with supporting evidence, he claimed.It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had earlier stated that the agreement with GNA, rather than power purchase from Himachal Pradesh, would save the State from an additional burden of some ₹2,200 crore.However, the GNA power purchase deal, which was deemed necessary to pull the State from an impending power crisis, had fallen through following a report by the KSEB’s commercial and tariff wing, which reportedly estimated that the GNA deal could cost the State an additional ₹903 crore. A reassessment of the State’s power requirement then led to the conclusion that additional power purchases were not necessary, raising questions about how the original assessment of the State’s power requirements were made and the GNA’s regulatory authorisation to undertake power trading activities, all of which had the Opposition train its guns on the Chief Minister now.Mr. Vijayan alleged that it was “blatant corruption” that the Chief Minister personally intervened to award a contract at a high rate to a private intermediary platform which did not have power generation capacity of its own or was not even a power trader, bypassing all objections raised by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and without following the tender process.He said even the Electricity Minister had to learn about crucial decisions taken within his own department and about the cancellation of the purchase agreement through newspaper reports. This was a clear indication of the breakdown of the Cabinet’s collective responsibility, he added.Mr. Vijayan said the Chief Minister preferred to take decisions on his own, keeping the Electricity Minister, who is also the KPCC president, in the dark, which made the deal murkier.He also alleged that according to his information, it was the Chief Minister’s Office which facilitated the purchase of 200 MW of electricity from a company named VEN Global in October at ₹11 per unit. This deal, allegedly conducted without a tender or approval from the Kerala Electricity Regulatory Commission, was also mysterious, he claimed.Mr. Vijayan alleged that all this revealed the extent of external interference centred on the Chief Minister’s Office. Now that the “corruption” involved in the deal was out, the Chief Minister was attempting to come clean out of this controversy by ordering an inquiry on a report by a former KSEB chairman and effectively making officials scapegoats, he alleged.He said that the Chief Minister had to give clear answers to several serious questionsThe Chief Minister should reveal who stood to benefit from the alleged attempt to create an artificial power crisis and what vested interests led to the decisions taken without the Electricity Minister’s consent.He demanded that the government explain why the proposal to purchase power from Himachal Pradesh was considered necessary in the first place, without any scrutiny, thus burdening the State with an additional financial liability.The Opposition had, right from the beginning, demanded the release of all files relating to the power purchase agreement. A comprehensive judicial inquiry was imperative to establish the facts of the deal, including the Chief Minister’s alleged involvement in the affair, Mr. Vijayan said in his statement. Published - November 10, 2026 07:53 pm IST