The Om Parkash Chautala government, sensing that a direct answer to any of the questions could send wrong political signals, deftly sidetracked the issue and evaded a direct reply. The standard reply of the Government was that the power sector reforms initiated by the Bansi Lal government were being ``reviewed''. On the question of free power, Chautala stated that it ``needs to be debated upon''.

A clear yes to free power would send wrong signals to the World Bank; a negative answer would imply that the farmers whose expectations had been raised in the recent Lok Sabha elections by the promise of free power and water would be annoyed, thus threatening a major vote-bank of the government.

The Opposition -- comprising theCongress and the Haryana Vikas Party -- availed of every opportunity, whether it was the no-confidence motion, call-attention motion or the zero hour, to raise the issue, only to be faced with evasive replies. It is interesting to note that prior to formation of the Government, free power to farmers and the reform process were major planks for the Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal.

The issue arose during the no-confidence motion on Monday when Mani Ram Godara (HVP) and Randeep Singh Surjewala (Congress) asked the Government to state in clear terms whether it was going ahead with the promise of free power and water for farmers. Finance Minister Sampat Singh ignored the questions and instead went on to list the achievements of the Government.

Sensing that the Government was not in a position to issue a clear-cut statement, the Opposition insisted on a direct answer. ``Say yes or no,'' said Godara. However, this, too, did not elicit a reply.