Former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Chairman B. Ashok on 12 September launched a pointed counter-attack against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the cancellation of long-term power purchase agreements, sharpening a political battle that has come to define Kerala's worsening electricity crisis. Ashok, a 1998-batch IAS officer, dismissed Vijayan's criticism of the cancellation as a calculated attempt to pin responsibility on officials for decisions taken during the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government's tenure.

Ashok's Core Charge

Ashok asserted that official records relating to the power purchase agreements are available and can establish the facts, maintaining that there was no lapse on the part of KSEB officials in the matter. He argued that the current crisis reflects a failure of long-term planning — specifically, the absence of adequate storage systems to bank renewable energy generated during the day for use at night. His remarks carry a pointed sarcasm about memory lapses and an allegation that Vijayan is attempting to escape accountability by deflecting blame onto the bureaucracy.

The Backstory: A Suspended Officer Strikes Back

The confrontation carries a charged personal dimension. Ashok was suspended by the Vijayan government in April of this year after an interview in which he was alleged to have criticised the then-LDF administration's functioning. The charges included speaking to the media without authorisation and allegedly tarnishing the government's image. He remained under suspension for approximately one-and-a-half months before the newly elected government of Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan reinstated him in June. Against that backdrop, Ashok's latest broadside assumes an added political charge that goes well beyond a technical dispute over power contracts.

What Vijayan Has Said

In a detailed Facebook post, Vijayan blamed the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government for the present power crisis, rejecting the argument that the cancellation of a 465 MW long-term agreement under the previous LDF government was responsible for the current shortage. He contended that the original agreement, signed in 2015 during the previous UDF tenure, had legal deficiencies — it was entered into without prior approval from the regulatory commission or the government. Vijayan also stated that the LDF government had subsequently fought to retain the agreement and even approached the Supreme Court. He further claimed the LDF had managed a higher peak demand of around 6,100 MW without resorting to power cuts by purchasing electricity at higher rates and entering into power-swapping arrangements with other states.

The Satheesan Government's Position

The present Satheesan government has squarely blamed the cancellation of the 465 MW long-term agreement for the ongoing night blackouts, which have left citizens frustrated. Notably, during the decade-long Vijayan administration, power outages were reportedly rare — making the current shortages a particularly sensitive political flashpoint. Vijayan has separately alleged that the UDF government is deliberately engineering a power shortage to push KSEB into a crisis and eventually pave the way for privatisation of the electricity sector. Ashok, for his part, has maintained that such allegations cannot mask the actual administrative and technical challenges facing the state's power infrastructure.

What Comes Next

With power shortages already stoking public anger and the prospect of further restrictions looming, the Ashok-Vijayan confrontation is likely to keep the controversy in the spotlight. The dispute brings into focus not only the contested power contracts but also the deeper political and administrative fault lines that have long run through Kerala's electricity sector. How the Satheesan government navigates both the technical crisis and the political fallout will be closely watched in the weeks ahead.