At odds with the BJP leadership since he lost from Arrah on the party ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Union power minister R K Singh has now alleged a loss of “Rs 62,000 crore” to the state exchequer in the award of a thermal plant in Bhagalpur by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Singh said that while he was the Power Minister, he had worked out with industry experts that the Rs 2,400 MW Pirpainti Power Project in Bhagalpur “was worth about Rs 24,900 crore”, at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore per MW. “I learnt about the power project being awarded at a fixed capital cost of Rs 15 crore per MW… The price of electricity per unit on the basis of Rs 10 crore per MW capital cost came to around Rs 2.75 per unit, but we have agreed to pay the power company at Rs 4.16 per unit. Extra payment annually would be around Rs 2,500 crore. As the agreement is for 25 years, the projected loss to the state exchequer would be about Rs 62,000 crore.”
The former BJP MP said he had flagged the issue to the Nitish government, “but without any response”. “If I am wrong, let them correct me. But from my experience as the Union Minister of Power for seven years, I can say with responsibility that this project needs a review.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the firm that has been awarded the Pirpainti project, Adani Power, called the allegations “entirely unfounded” and said they “reflect a misunderstanding of both the project’s history and the transparent process followed by the Government of Bihar”. “It is unfortunate that certain electorally frustrated individuals and political interests are attempting to further a false and baseless narrative,” Adani Power said.
Bihar Industry Minister Nitish Mishra did not respond to phone calls or text messages, despite several attempts.
Singh, 72, denied that his allegations were linked to the ongoing Assembly elections, “or my so-called sore relations with my party”. “Nor has it anything to do with me being left out of (the BJP’s) Bihar poll campaign committee. They are also free to suspend or expel me from the party for saying all this,” he said.
Adding that he was only speaking about “things I understand very well”, the former minister said: “I am telling all this now because I came to know about it recently. It was red-flagged to me by some energy experts just a couple of days ago.”
In its statement, Adani Power said the Bhagalpur project had been stuck since 2012, when the land for it was acquired by Bihar State Power Generation Company Ltd for developing a 2,400 MW power plant. Over the past decade, the government had made several attempts to implement the project, including with public-sector entities, “but none materialised”, the company said. In 2024, the Bihar government “opted for an open, transparent, competitive-bidding process to finally bring the project to fruition”.
Adani Power added that under the tender conditions, the land was leased – not “sold” – to the successful bidder at a nominal rent, in accordance with the Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy 2025. And that Adani Power was the “lowest” bidder, quoting Rs 6.075 per kWh, comprising a fixed charge of Rs 4.165 and fuel charge of Rs 1.91 per kWh.
The allegations about the power project by Singh come days after he asked BJP leader and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and state party chief Dilip Jaiswal to “come clean” on the claims made against them by Jan Suraaj chief Prashant Kishor, or to “step down”.
Singh accepted growing differences with “top BJP leaders”, and claimed his “sense of unease” with them went back to when he held the Power portfolio and received hints that they wanted to “favour certain companies”. “But I went by the rule book. I did not give the go-ahead to any rigged bidding or an overestimated project.”
Singh also claimed that it was clear to him that the BJP leadership didn’t want him to win the 2024 polls, and favoured re-entry of former Arrah MP Meena Singh or her son from the seat. “Booth agents worked against me. When Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh (a Rajput like R K Singh) decided to contest from Karakat, a seat adjoining Arrah, I requested top BJP leaders to dissuade him as he could split my vote base. But no attention was paid… I met the Prime Minister after my loss, and just thanked him for giving me key assignments.”
On his remarks regarding Choudhary following Kishor’s allegations, Singh said: “I did not target any individual. I only said Samrat should respond to Prashant Kishor’s allegations. Samrat should have said if he had any criminal case pending against him. I later appealed to voters to not vote for any candidates, including Samrat, if they had a dubious past.”
The BJP leader said he had always spoken out. “Right from my days as a bureaucrat, I called a spade a spade. I served as a key bureaucrat under CM Nitish Kumar too during his first term. I would speak my mind to Nitish as well.”
