Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh is currently under fire for inefficient governance which has gripped the state over the past few months. Of all the major and minor issues, frequent and unscheduled power outages are surely topping the list among citizens. With rising summer temperatures both urban and rural population in the state have been struggling in the face of power outages which are sometimes as long as for 10 hours.
Taking a cue from the national leadership of Congress, Kamal Nath has attempted to pass the buck for failures of his government. According to a report by Zee News, in a series of advertisements in local newspapers, MP CM Kamal Nath has indirectly blamed the BJP-led opposition for creating problems leading to these power cuts. In the advertisements, Kamal Nath has pointed out that the state is power surplus and the issues related to supply are ‘Man made’ the advertisement read. “I(Kamal Nath)want to assure you that shortage of electricity is no reason behind the power related problems being experienced for the past few days.”
MP CM further states in the advertisement, “The reasons are not making improvements in the system in the past and creating manmade obstructions in smooth supply (of power).”
This move by Kamal Nath to put out advertisements in order to send political messages also has striking similarities with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Passing the blame to political opponents has been a trademark of Delhi CM’s tenure; over the past few years, Arvind Kejriwal has not missed a single chance to pin the blame for the failures of the Delhi Government on its principle opposition party, the BJP. Kamal Nath by his recent actions just seems to be following suit.
Earlier CM Kamal Nath was also caught in an embarrassing situation when he and his family reached a polling booth in Chhindwara to cast their votes during the general election, where they were met with another outage. Nath was with his wife, Alka Nath, and daughter-in-law, Priya Nath in a booth in Shikarpur village (Saunsar Assembly area). Left with no choice, the family had to use mobile phone flashlights to go through the process.
Kamal Nath had faced frequent power cuts during campaigning and had alleged conspiracy. Joining in the blame game was also Madhya Pradesh minister Surendra Singh Baghel who had alleged these power cuts to be a conspiracy by the BJP and power companies to defame the Madhya Pradesh government. The state government has also been venting out its anger on the employees of the energy department, over the past few months a large number of employees and officials of the energy department have been suspended.
Earlier ex-Madhya Pradesh CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had also taken aim at Kamal Nath government over power outages in the state and dubbed it as Madhya Pradesh returning to ‘Bantadhar yug’(destructive phase). He had tweeted:
अप्रिय स्थिति से बचने के लिए आयोग द्वारा सभी स्थानों पर जनरेटर की व्यवस्था करना ज़रूरी है क्योंकि बिजली जाना तो तय है, स्वयं मुख्यमंत्री जब वोट डालने गए तो बिजली चली गई थी!
कांग्रेसी नेता भी फिर यही बोलेंगे कि देखो इसके पीछे भाजपा नेताओं का षड्यंत्र है, शिवराज यह सब करवा रहा है!
— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (मोदी का परिवार ) (@ChouhanShivraj) May 22, 2019
In the rising summer temperatures eliminating power outages should ideally be one of the top agendas in the state, however, like on many other fronts Congress has decided to just shift the blame to the BJP and allege conspiracies. These events are surely an indication of Kamal Nath government running fast out of credibility and banking on Kejriwal-style politics to save its face.
