Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph on Friday alleged that the current power crisis in the state was the outcome of the previous LDF government's policies and hence, they should be protesting against themselves.

Joseph was responding to CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan's announcement that a series of statewide protests would be held against the UDF government's handling of the power situation.

Speaking to reporters, the minister contended that the previous LDF administration scrapped a beneficial long-term power purchase agreement entered into with private electricity distribution companies by the erstwhile Oommen Chandy government and did not implement any power generation or storage projects during their time in power.

In addition to that, the previous Left government did not try to generate or purchase electricity in March-April, when there was a crisis, and instead opted to borrow it from the grid, and that has to be returned now, the burden of which is on the current government, Joseph claimed.

"So if they want to protest, they should agitate against themselves," he added.

The minister said that electricity shortage concerns cannot be addressed in one day and the government was taking steps to address the issue.

As part of that, it has decided to purchase as much electricity as possible and has held discussions with the regulatory commission in this regard.

Additionally, the KSEB chairman is also taking steps to get more power for the state by meeting the Power Secretary of the Union government, Joseph said.

Besides that, the state government was also trying to work out a long-term power purchase agreement like the one that was scrapped by the previous Left administration, he said.

"They can go and protest on this issue as they have nothing to agitate about. But we are successfully taking steps to resolve the crisis and will continue to do so," he said.