Now, BJP too to protest against power scarcity

BANGALORE: Squarely blaming the the UPA government at the Centre for the power crisis in Karnataka, the state unit of BJP has planned a state-wide protest against its partisan attitude. Addressing newsmen here on Friday, state BJP spokeperson and legislator C T Ravi charged the Congress-led UPA government of adopting a partisan attitude towards the state government on the matter.Accordingly, party workers will stage protests in all districts on October 18.Stating that Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde while rejecting the state government’s plea to release its earmarked quota of power from the Central grid had obliged the Maharashtra government by releasing it over 700 MW of power.He said that Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje who had met the Union power minister was bluntly told that “arranging power is the sole responsibility of the state”.He also accused the Centre of not showing any interest in ensuring coal linkage.