Cogentrix project may stay

BANGALORE, Dec 15 (PTI) — Six days after abruptly announcing their pullout from the 1,000 mw Mangalore Power Project, sponsors, Cogentrix today indicated that they would consider revival of the project on fulfilment of certain conditions.

Mr Ron Somers, Managing Director of the Mangalore Power Company, a subsidiary of Cogentrix and Hong Kong-based China Light and Power Company, told reporters here that he would recommend to the sponsors revival of the $1.3 billion fast track project if the Karnataka Government stood by the 1997 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and the Union Power Ministry gave the draft of the counter-guarantee (CG) without delay.

After a meeting with the Chief Minister S. M. Krishna, Mr Somers said the company had made a request to the state government and the Union Power Ministry to send the necessary signals to the Boards of Cogentrix and China Light and Power that there was a commonality of will and interest on the part of the government to put the project back on the “fast track”.

He said the Supreme Court verdict of December 13 setting aside high court order for a CBI probe into alleged kickbacks had resolved only one of the three outstanding issues, adding, the other two related to CG and PPA.

Asked how long the board was ready to wait for the draft of the CG, Mr Somers said it was for the boards to decide.

He also made it clear that the Board’s December eight decision to pull out of the project was “firm” and its “exit strategy is already on.”

However, terming his meeting with Mr Krishna as “productive”, Mr Somers said “only he (Krishna) can salvage the project”.

Mr Somers arrived here last night from Delhi to brief Mr Krishna on the outcome of his meeting with Union Power Minister R. Kumaramangalam following the Supreme Court ruling. Mr Kumaramangalam had told Mr Somers that the Government would give the counter-guarantee once the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was cleared by the State Government again.

Meanwhile Mr Krishna said the Cabinet would take a decision on the PPA tomorrow.

Vajpayee out to weaken Advani: Kalyan

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (PTI) — Expelled BJP leader Kalyan Singh today levelled a fresh allegation against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that he was conspiring against Home Minister L. K. Advani to weaken him.

“Mr Advani is feeling suffocated in the party because of Mr Vajpayee, who has hatched a conspiracy to weaken the Home Minister,” he told reporters during his first visit to the Capital after his recent expulsion from the BJP on charges of indulging in anti-party activities.

Mr Kalyan Singh, who reached here this morning to firm up modalities for launching his new party, demanded that either Mr Vajpayee or UP Chief Minister R. P. Gupta should resign for making contradictory statements on the BJP’s stand on the Ayodhya issue.

He criticised the manner in which Mr Vajpayee had reportedly said Mr Gupta’s remarks on Ayodhya should not be taken seriously, saying that “it tantamounts to describing the Chief Minister as a non-serious person”.

Demanding that the BJP, the VHP and the RSS should clarify whether they supported Mr Gupta’s statement or the one made by Mr Vajpayee, he charged these parties with indulging in “double talk” and misleading the people.

Mr Kalyan Singh claimed that on September 19, former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana had visited him in Lucknow with a message purported to have been sent by Mr Vajpayee and RSS chief Rajinder Singh, alias Rajju Bhaiya, assuring him that he would not be replaced before or after the elections. “I want to know what happened to the assurance,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP has made it clear that none of its leaders would have any meeting with Mr Kalyan Singh.

Reacting to reports that Mr Kalyan Singh, who is in the Capital, had met former Delhi Chief Minister M.L. Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma, party spokesman Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here: “No BJP leader will meet Mr Kalyan Singh at the political level.”

However, senior Delhi BJP leader Sahib Singh Verma today said the party could consider talking back to Kalyan Singh if he “conducted himself well” and advised the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to desist from floating a new outfit.

Mr Advani, however, declined to comment tonight on remarks made by Mr Kalyan Singh about him (Advani) saying “that chapter is closed”.