Ever since the Congress government came into power in Karnataka, we have been hearing news about power cuts making their way into the lives of residents of Karnataka. I dismissed this news as an exaggeration by the “godi media” that is sold out and unreliable and whatnot. Everything changed when the Chief Minister himself released a video blaming the BJP for the crisis that started after he became the CM.
In this video, he blames the BJP government in Karnataka and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh for not entering into the right deal, and therefore causing this severe crisis.
This made many citizens think – but there has been no BJP government in Chhattisgarh since 2018. So one wonders if he blaming the previous BJP government in Chhattisgarh for not working with the previous BJP government of Karnataka. But then a simultaneous BJP government was there in both states way back in 2008 to 2013 time only.
After watching this wonderful and thoughtful video, it became very clear that the electricity crisis in Karnataka was not a made-up story by the godi media but a real one that’s impacting the productivity of crores of citizens. A farmer was so angry, that he released a crocodile into the electricity office. We were told by a few Bangolereans how even on Diwali day they had to endure these power cuts.
We then saw stories on how the 6-lakh-strong MSME sector in Karnataka was complaining about the severe impact on their industries because of these power cuts. The Jeans factory workers of Bellary were driven to tears when they spoke about this crisis. This immediately reminded us of the many pompous statements that Rahul Gandhi made while in Bellary for the election campaign (and also during the BJ Yatra). There is a viral video of him changing the package details he wanted to offer to Bellary. He ended up promising them a 5000-crore worth package. They ended up perhaps losing 500 crores within 5 months of giving power to Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party.
Prolonged power cuts were supposed to be a thing of the past. Daily scheduled power cuts were also supposed to be a thing of the past. So, what happened? Well, Congress happened! Since the Karnataka CM made a reference to Chhattisgarh, it becomes very important to note how the current Congress government of Chhattisgarh is at loggerheads with the current Congress regime of Rajasthan with respect to the supply of coal. Rajasthan is facing a power crisis too, and both the veteran Congress leaders who are CMs, have not been able to resolve this amongst themselves. A cute video can easily be made on how Chhattisgarh is refusing to help Rajasthan (on similar lines to the Karnataka one).
The Congress has been in power in only a handful of states since 2014. And even in this handful of states that they were in power, they mismanaged the power situation. It sounds as if mismanaging of power is their USP! It’s one thing to be facing a crisis when many other states or the country as a whole are facing a crisis (like it happened for a brief while in mid-2022 or perhaps when there is a huge deficit in monsoon). But to be the only ones to face severe crises when others don’t, certainly points out to how you govern!
We all must recollect the long-scheduled power cuts in the pre-2014 days. News reports from that time even indicate how officials who used to say “If any village gets power for 1-2 hours during the day, it is by mistake”. Imagine when supplying power is actually classified as a mistake! Amidst the current power crisis in Karnataka, the Chief Minister was busy with another kind of power struggle – securing his position. He was busy holding meetings with his deputy CM and other cabinet colleagues to hold on to his chair. Like they say – if you give power to Congress, it will take away power from your homes.
