Bhopal, May 23: The Congress today organised a dharna to protest alleged "dual policy" of the central government in providing coal to the state stating that the power crisis in Madhya Pradesh has worsened ever since Uma Bharati took over as the Union Coal Minister. Jointly addressing a gathering here, Madhya Pradesh Congress General Secretary Rajkumar Patel and Bhopal mayor Vibha Patel said the dharna was being held to create awareness among people about the power situation in the state which was the 'result of the failure of the NDA government.' Rajkumar said the power crisis had intensified since Uma Bharti's tenure as the coal minister at the Centre. As coal minister, Uma Bharti had instructed officers not to supply good quality coal to Madhya Pradesh only to put the Digvijay Singh government in crisis, he said.


Patel said the Centre was not providing the required quota of coal to the state and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee was 'responsible' for the power crisis.
About seven ministers were representing the state at the Centre but were not doing anything to solve the power crisis, Rajkumar said.

Bureau Report