LUCKNOW: Escalating power outages across Uttar Pradesh have triggered sharp political reactions, with legislators from both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition parties writing letters and posting on social media to state Energy Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma over the worsening electricity crisis during peak summer.
BJP MLA Prateek Bhushan Singh's Strongly Worded Letter
BJP MLA from Gonda Sadar, Prateek Bhushan Singh, wrote a strongly worded letter on Friday describing a serious electricity crisis in Gonda district and his assembly constituency. Calling the issue extremely sensitive and urgent, Singh said repeated outages amid intense heat had pushed residents into severe distress, disrupting normal life, workplaces, and business activity.
In his letter, Singh acknowledged technical challenges such as overloaded transformers, snapped wires due to storms, and infrastructure stress caused by rising demand. However, he noted that public anger was growing because of prolonged and irregular supply failures. He urged the minister to ensure an emergency mechanism for uninterrupted power supply, particularly during night hours, and sought immediate intervention for a permanent solution.
Biswa MLA Nirmal Verma's Concerns
Biswa BJP MLA Nirmal Verma also wrote to the energy minister, stating that both urban and rural areas of his constituency in Sitapur district had been facing continuous scheduled power cuts for several days. He warned that the outages had severely affected trade, agriculture, and daily life, urging officials to restore normal supply at the earliest.
Akhilesh Yadav's Attack on BJP Government
Former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav also attacked the BJP government over the crisis. In a public appeal, he urged people not to vent anger on linemen and junior electricity employees, claiming they were already working under pressure after large-scale contractual staff layoffs. Yadav blamed the state government for failing to strengthen generation, transmission, and distribution systems despite rising demand.
Mayawati's Criticism and Appeal
Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati also criticized the power situation in Uttar Pradesh amid the ongoing heatwave. She said complaints of inadequate electricity supply and frequent outages were making life extremely distressing for people across the state. Even in a state like Uttar Pradesh with its vast population, during this season of severe heat, the common complaints regarding inadequate electricity supply, frequent outages, and the like have made life extremely distressing for the poor, middle class, farmers, small traders, and millions of other hardworking people, Mayawati said.
She appealed to the government to take immediate corrective measures, keeping in mind the hardships faced by the public due to electricity-related problems. At the same time, efforts should be made to improve the electricity supply situation for the future through new power plants and the like, which would be appropriate in the broader public interest, she added.
Other Political Reactions
Nagina MP Chandra Shekhar Azad also wrote to Sharma, highlighting worsening outages in rural and semi-urban areas. He said students, farmers, laborers, and small traders were among the worst affected.
In Lucknow, MLAs Neeraj Vora (Lucknow North) and Rajeshwar Singh (Sarojini Nagar) also submitted complaints about outages affecting the state capital and adjoining districts, urging the state energy minister to enforce corrective measures.
