JOIN USIn a desperate attempt to catch up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress MPs Sanjay Nirupam and Priya Dutt on Monday staged a rather shrill dharna before the Reliance Energy office in far-flung north-western neighbourhood of Kandivili, demanding slashing of the power tariff imposed on suburbs.
Nirupam had also written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on January 1 on the issue. He told the crowd, “We will continue with the agitation until the company reviews the existing power tariff and reduces them.”
Joining the protest, Dutt demanded the implementation of a uniform power tariff policy across the island city and suburbs. “If the tariff is not brought down then the agitation will spread across all suburbs.”
Not wanting to miss the headline grabbing opportunity, Nirupam wrote to the chief minister asserting that the subsidy benefits should go to the middle class and lower class people and not to the power companies.
“It is important that the party deliberates on the legitimate expectations of middle class and slum populace if it does not want to lose its connect with the masses,” he had said.