New Delhi, March 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will convene a meeting of chief ministers to evolve a political consensus for ushering in reforms in the country’s power sector.

“We need to do a lot in the power sector to provide electricity to all at affordable rates. I am convening a conference of all state chief ministers to form a political consensus,” he said, inaugurating the Rs 3,780-crore Barh transmission system in eastern UP. The project will be developed by Power Grid Corporation Ltd.

Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the conference of chief ministers was expected to be held after the ensuing assembly elections in various states. “The meeting is possible only in the first week of June,” he said.

The work on Barh transmission system was inaugurated in the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, who represents the Ballia Lok Sabha constituency. The transmission system will transfer power from the Barh generation project of NTPC to beneficiaries in the east, north and west.