Gandhinagar, 16 July, 2014

Gujarat Congress today created ruckus in Gujarat assembly over sudden jump in ‘other’ expenses shown in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation(GSPC) balance sheet.

Leader of opposition questioned sudden jump of ‘other’ expenses of GSPC in election year.

Reacting to this, Power Minister Saurabh Patel said: The leader of opposition has misled the house. GSPC has in its annual report shown Rs. 214 crore expenses in year 2011-12 and Rs. 80 crore expenses in 2012-13 as ‘other expenses’. While leader of opposition alleges that the said amount has been spent for election by BJP, the reality is that the leader of opposition has not properly studied a balance sheet of GSPC. Actually, GSPC has made repayment of loan, and this repayment has been made as per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank.

Patel said when GSPC was all set to launch an IPO to gather equity for better performance, the then leader of opposition opposed the move and wrote letters to then UPA government to cancel it. GSPC’s IPO couldn’t materialize due to that.

Power Minister criticized Congress’s allegation that Reliance had encroached GSPC block. Power Minister said, the leader of opposition has presented wrong details on this issue. He said the Central government has permitted Reliance to carry gas to sea shore through a pipeline, and there’s not any encroachment there.

It should be mentioned here that all Congress MLAs barring leader of opposition Shankersinh Vaghela were suspended today following ruckus they created over GSPC issue. Vaghela later walked out from the house and briefed media persons on same outside the assembly complex. He announced non-corporation across the state from Thursday.He alleged that the minister reacted angrily to Congress’s remarks over GSPC inside the assembly house.