Kerala power deal row ends as CM Satheesan meets minister Sunny Joseph in Chennithala's presence
Thiruvananthapuram: The differences between Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph over a proposed power purchase deal appear to have been resolved following a meeting at Cliff House on Wednesday night.
The meeting, held in the presence of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, saw Satheesan and Joseph discuss the differences that had emerged over the electricity procurement issue.
The Chief Minister is understood to have explained that his meeting with Energy Department Secretary Puneet Kumar and KSEB Chairman N. Prasanth, without the minister present, was purely coincidental.
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Satheesan reportedly said the two officials had met him after a meeting of civil servants and that it was not a meeting he had convened. He also explained that he had examined the power purchase proposal because the file had been forwarded to him for a decision. He clarified that he had neither deliberately excluded the minister nor intervened unilaterally in the department.
Joseph, in turn, is understood to have conveyed his displeasure over the way the KSEB's recommendation had been viewed with suspicion, including the suggestion that it was part of a pressure tactic.
The discussion lasted around an hour, helping ease tensions between the two leaders.
The differences had become public after Joseph criticised the Chief Minister's decisions in an interview with Mathrubhumi. He had also said that he learnt about the decisions concerning the power deal through newspaper reports.
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Joseph attended Wednesday's Cabinet meeting with figures detailing the financial implications of purchasing electricity from different agencies. However, since the Chief Minister did not raise the issue during the meeting, the minister also refrained from bringing it up.
Following Joseph's interview, Minister Ramesh Chennithala had intervened, advising him against making further public comments that could aggravate the situation.