"I had written letters to all Chief Ministers about the BHEL-NTPC joint venture. We have already given the project to Andhra Pradesh as they responded promptly. Madhya Pradesh government reacted very late to it and there is no question of backtracking from the committment given to the AP Government," he said while dedicating a state-of-the-art Ultra High Voltage (UHV) Transforming Facility to the nation here yesterday.

Deshmukh's reaction came after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a request to him in this regard.

Earlier in the function, Chouhan urged the Union Minister to think again over the BHEL-NTPC project saying that the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) Bhopal has enough and for setting it up.

The Chief Minister also said that he had already met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Heavy Industry Minister Santosh Mohan Dev in this connection.

Deshmukh said that while all other states reacted very late to his proposal, Andhra Pradesh government was very prompt to seek the project.

Deshmukh said that the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy was the first to give offer letter about providing land for the project to the Ministry.

Trade Union leader of BHEL and INTUC State President, R D Tripathi alleged that NTPC-BHEL power equipment project was shifted to Mannavaram in Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh as there was lack of political will in the leadership in Madhya Pradesh.