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WB chief's statement sparks fresh row on AP power tariff hike

A fresh controversy seems to be brewing in Andhra Pradesh after World Bank chairman James Wolfensohn made a statement on the power tariff hike in the state. Opposition parties are asserting that their stand on the issue was vindicated by Wolfensohn's statement made in Washington on Saturday.

K Rosaiah (Congress), S Sudhakar Reddy (Communist Party of India) and other left party leaders said that their charge of the chief minister acting on the dictates of the World Bank was proved right when Wolfensohn announced that his institution was responsible for the tariff hike in the state.

The state government had increased the power tariff at the instance of the World Bank, which was confirmed by Wolfensohn, Congress spokesman K Rosaiah told reporters at Vijayawada.

"The statement of the World Bank chief calls the bluff of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who has been misleading the people about the real intention behind bifurcating the state electricity board, power reforms and privatisation," CPI state secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said in a statement in Hyderabad.

Alleging that the World Bank-dictated reforms in the power sector were aimed at selling out the state electricity board on a piece meal basis to private sector, Reddy demanded that all agreements reached with the World Bank should be made public.

The Congress and left parties have been agitating for over three months demanding a rollback of the hike in power tariff.

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