Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot was compelled to ‘re-announce’ one of his own old announcements in a new form, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said after the state government decided to waive off electricity bills for the first 100 units. The Union minister said that Gehlot had made the same announcement earlier during the state budget session and claimed that the ‘re-announcement’ was made after being under so much pressure followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in the state.
“He suddenly had the ‘Brahma Gyaan’ at night, which he agreed to have recieved it from the ‘Mehengai Rahat Shivir’…The (state) government had increased the fuel surcharge to 57 paise from 18 paise and looted around 40 to 45 paise per unit for last four years and now it is trying to make people happy after accepting its failure,” Shekhawat told news agency ANI.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday announced electricity bill waiver on consumption of power till first 100 units.
In a late night tweet, the chief minister announced, “We received a feedback which called for changes in the slabwise waiver on electricity bills. We also received feedback on fuel surcharge in the electricity bill in the month of May. As a result, the electricity bill for customers who consume less than 100 units power will be zero”. He further announced that consumers’ fixed charges, fuel surcharge along with other charges till first 200 units will also be waived off.
Notably, Gehlot’s announcement comes hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle in Rajasthan, launching his biggest attack on ruling Congress in the state.
Similarly, leader of opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore also came down heavily on CM Gehlot and said public won’t fall for such announcements by a party which looted them for years.
“After looting the public for 4 and a half years, now as soon as the election year approaches, the public will not be fooled by your sudden announcement of waiving fuel surcharge and other charges in electricity bills. There is a flaw in both your policy and intention,” he tweeted.
He further demanded the CM to pay off the pending amount to electricity companies against the earlier subsidies given to consumers before he implement another set of waiver.
(With ANI input)
