CM vows to continue free power, slams BRS’ allegations

Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday firmly reiterated that the Congress govt will continue its flagship policy of free electricity to farmers, dismissing allegations by the BRS that meters would be installed on agricultural motors.Addressing media at his camp office in the MCR HRD Institute, Revanth declared that free power is the “patent of the Congress” and will remain untouched. He said the Congress will not contest the next assembly elections if the incumbent govt installed meters to agriculture motors and discontinued free power supply to the farmers.He challenged the BRS to clarify whether it would refrain from contesting the next assembly elections if its claims proved false. “There is no clause in the central govt’s RDSS scheme mandating meters for agriculture motors. Former CM K Chandrasekhar Rao misled farmers with false claims,” he asserted.Responding to criticism over the establishment of the Telangana Rythu Discom, the CM explained that the new entity is designed to ensure uninterrupted, quality power supply to farmers. He noted that previous govts failed to reimburse subsidies to the state’s two major distribution companies, forcing them into debt and losses amounting to ₹69,745 crore. Once ranked among the top six discoms nationally, the SPDCL and NPDCL have now slipped to the bottom.The rythu discom, he said, will streamline billing and accountability, ensuring that departments such as irrigation, rural water supply, and Hyderabad’s metropolitan water board pay their dues regularly. This system will prevent losses from being wrongly attributed to free power for agriculture.Revanth also highlighted the potential of renewable energy, which is increasingly available at lower costs, to strengthen the new discom’s operations. He accused BRS leaders of opposing the initiative out of fear, pointing to alleged irregularities in past power purchase agreements with Chhattisgarh now under CBI scrutiny.