Kharge takes swipe at PM Modi's rooftop solar power scheme, says no fresh funds allocated

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his announcement of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana’, a government scheme under which 1 crore households will reportedly get rooftop solar power systems.

In a post on X, Kharge said, "Pradhan Mantri ji's JUMLAS soar to the Sun! Yesterday, PM announced a fresh target of installing rooftop solar for 1 crore houses." The Congress chief claimed, "The ground reality is that not even 10 lakh houses got rooftop solar installations in the past 10 years of BJP rule."

"Earlier, Modi government made a false promise of installing 40 GW of rooftop solar capacity by 2022. The status check of Modi government's grand announcements is the following :-- 70% of that target of 40 GW remains unfulfilled. Out of that, only 2.2 GW are installed in homes," Kharge wrote on X.

"Energy generated from residences was only 1/5th of the installed capacity. After its grand failure, Modi government changed the target to be completed by 2026, without ANY new funding in the scheme," Kharge said.

He further said, "Election Season=BJP's Jumla Season!"

Modi had said the scheme would not only reduce electricity bills of the poor and the middle class, but also make India self-reliant in the energy sector.

According to information available on the ministry of new and renewable energy’s website, solar power installed capacity in India has reached around 73.31 GW as of December 2023. Meanwhile, rooftop solar installed capacity is around 11.08 GW as of December 2023.