NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday levelled fresh charges of crony capitalism against the government, alleging that the Gujarat government has set up a committee which is tasked in a manner that is in contravention of Supreme Court orders and is intended to favour “preferred industrialists”.

Alleging a “massive power scam” worth Rs 88,000 crore, former Gujarat minister Shaktisinh Gohil and senior Congress member Jairam Ramesh said the Gujarat government was “working under the directions of the Centre” to provide “relief” to power companies owned by Adani , Tata and Essar.

Calling them “friends” of the Modi government, Congress said the demand to increase power tariffs agreed upon in power purchase agreements (PPA) was turned down by regulatory authorities in the state and the Centre, by the appellate tribunal as well as SC.

Citing the Gujarat case as an example of “crony capitalism”, Ramesh said, “Even though SC ruled the demand for an increase in tariff by the three companies was unfounded, and that tariff should remain what was agreed upon in the PPA signed in 2007, the Gujarat government issued a notification on July 3, 2018 and set up a three-member committee mandating it with recommending ways to provide relief to these crony companies.”

Gohil also demanded that the matter be investigated under the supervision of the SC. “The companies are bound to bear both profit and losses as per PPA. If these companies fail to fulfil their obligations as per the contract, they should be blacklisted... and the loss suffered by the public should be recovered from them,” Gohil said.

