On the pretext of reviewing the project, the BJP government had halted it to score political mileage, he alleged. In April 2017, Raje government inked a fresh MoU with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

Due to delay in the project, total cost of the refinery increased. As per an estimate, it was ₹37 thousand crore in 2013 while it rose by ₹6000 crores to ₹ 43 thousand crore in 2017.

On top of that, as per the MOU state government will not have more than 26 per cent of the shares in the refinery.

Boasting of the project as many of the ‘firsts’ in the country, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted: