Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday accused corruption by BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in procurement of PPE kits during the pandemic in 2020. Responding to the allegation, Mr. Sarma said that his wife had gifted PPE kits to the government and warned the AAP leader of a criminal defamation case.
Addressing media in Delhi, Mr. Sisodia alleged that the Assam government gave contracts for supplying PPE kits to Mr. Sarma’s wife’s company and son’s partner’s company at rates higher than market rates without tenders.
Taking to Twitter, Mr. Sarma said that his wife donated 1,500 PPE kits.
“At a time when the entire country was facing the worst pandemic in over 100 years , Assam hardly had any PPE Kits My wife took the courage of coming forward and donating around 1500 free of cost to the govt to save lives. She didn’t take a single penny,” Mr. Sarma tweeted. He also shared a purported government letter from March 2020 to JCB industries, appreciating the company for donating 1485 PPE kits as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation,” Mr. Sarma said in another tweet.
It led to exchanges between the leaders on Twitter.
Replying to Mr. Sarma’s tweet, Mr. Sisodia shared another purported government letter to JCB industries about an order of 5,000 PPE kits.
“Honorable Chief Minister @himantabiswa ji! Here is a contract to buy 5000 kits from your wife’s JCB industries at 990/- per kit… Tell me, is this paper false? Is it not corruption as a health minister to give a purchase order without a tender to your wife’s company?” Mr. Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.
Replying to this, the BJP leader said in another tweet that although the government issued the order, the company raised no bill and the kits were gifted to the government. “Don’t cherry pick from half the documents. Have the courage to put all the facts,” Mr. Sarma said in a statement on Twitter.
AAP vs BJP
During the press conference, Mr. Sisodia alleged that when Mr. Sarma was health minister of Assam, his wife’s company JCB Industries and his family’s close associate’s company received orders to procure PPE kit at the cost of ₹990 per kit. This is despite the fact that the government had an option to buy it at the cost of ₹600 from other dealers, he claimed.
“Not only this, business partners of Mr. Sarma’s son also received a lucrative order from the government to provide PPE kits at the cost of ₹990 per kit. A company owned by a business partner of Mr. Sarma’s wife received the orders to deliver 10,000 PPE kits at the cost of ₹2,205 per kit. Later, despite incomplete supply of orders, these close associates of Mr. Sarma’s family were given the orders for more PPE kits at the cost of ₹1680 per kit,” said the AAP leader.
Mr. Sisodia urged to carry out investigation into the alleged corruption by Mr. Sarma and cited media reports about the “corruption”.
“This is a major crime by the Chief Minister of Assam and his close associates. This PPE kit scam is a solid corruption case and crime by a BJP Minister and ED is after Shri Satyender Jain who is working hard to provide quality healthcare to each resident of Delhi in the form of Mohalla Clinics,” he added.
