Shillong, Dec. 22: The hurried decision of the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) government to hand over two major power projects to private companies has evoked sharp criticism from the KSU which had also objected to the deal during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.

The KSU, however, has delayed the announcement of any agitation in view of Christmas.

KSU general secretary Hamlet Dohling today made it clear that the union would meet shortly to chalk out its future course of action.

The Meghalaya cabinet, at an emergency meeting last evening, decided to hand over two power projects of over 100MW, Kynshi Stage I and Stage II, to Athena Private Limited and Jaypee group respectively.

The KSU in the past had resorted to agitation following the decision of the Congress-led MDA government in 2007 to go ahead with the deal.

The main argument of the KSU was that the government did not follow the norms of international competitive bidding before signing the agreement with these two private companies. However, when the protest was intensified and more pressure groups like the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) demanded the government scrap the deal, it had to keep the memorandum of agreement signed with these companies in abeyance. Much to the solace of the agitating pressure groups, when the UDP-NCP-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) government came into power last year, it scrapped the deal with these two private companies.

The controversial agreement was the election agenda of many political parties, including the UDP and the NCP, prior to the Assembly elections in 2008.