Bengaluru, May 12 (DHNS): JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy has charged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar with trying to cover up irregularities in power purchase done during the previous BJP governments.

Speaking to reporters, he said the BJP governments had helped Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in many ways. Hence, the two leaders are trying to protect the BJP leaders by not disclosing any information on irregularities in power purchase between 2006 and 2012.
When Siddaramaiah was the opposition leader, he had promised to expose the misdeeds of the previous governments.

But he has remained silent after becoming the chief minister. His government has not provided any information to an Assembly committee set up to probe the irregularities in power purchase, Kumaraswamy said.

On Tuesday, he lodged a complaint with Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa in this regard.

Shivakumar is chairman of the committee. The Energy Department officials are, as a result, stonewalling all questions by the panel on the purchase of power to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore, Kumara-swamy said.

The panel had asked the department to provide all documents on power purchase, including minutes of the meetings where the decisions were taken, he added.

The JD(S) leader, who is also a member of the committee, said he wanted to resign as a committee member, protesting the non-cooperation of the government. But the Speaker advised him to wait for some time and write a detailed letter to him on constraints being faced by the committee in doing its work.