AAP accuses Assam CM Himanta Biswa of awarding PPE kit deals to family businesses
PremiumThe allegations are based on an investigative report published on a news website
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma awarded government contracts to procure Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits in 2020 to firms of his wife and son's business partners, alleged the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday.
The party also accused Sarma of overpaying for the PPE kits.
Speaking at a press conference, AAP leader Manish Sisodia claimed that while the Assam government procured PPE kits for ₹600 a piece from other companies, Sarma gave urgent supply orders to the firms of his wife and son's business partners for ₹990 a piece "taking advantage of the Covid-19 emergency".
The firm belonging to Sarma's wife does not even deal in medical equipment, he alleged.
"While the contract given to the firm of Sarma's wife was cancelled as the company could not supply PPE kits, another supply order was given to the firm belonging to the business partners of his son at a rate of ₹1,680 per kit," Sisodia said citing a recently published media report.
The AAP leader asked why the members of the BJP were silent on corruption by a chief minister of a state ruled by the saffron party.
"They talk of corruption and level baseless allegations against members of opposition parties. I want to probe their understanding of corruption... want to ask them if they consider this (Assam case) corruption or not," said Sisodia.
Sarma took to Twitter to respond to the allegations and said that he will file a defamation case against Sisodia.
“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," wrote the Assam CM.
Earlier, Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma had refuted the accusations against her discussed in the media report.
“In the first week of the pandemic, not a single PPE kit was available in Assam. Taking cognisance of the same, I reached out to a business acquaintance, and delivered around 1500 PPE kits to the NHM with a lot of effort. Later on, I wrote to the NHM to treat the same as a part of my CSR," Riniki Bhuyan said in a statement.
“I did not take a single penny out of this supply. I have always been transparent about my belief in giving back to the society, irrespective of my husband's political standing. My organisation has also supported the NHM in the fight against Covid by donating to the Aarogya Nidhi," she added.
Earlier in the day, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had stated Sisodia would be "exposing" a corruption scandal involving a senior BJP leader.
He had also stepped up his attack on the central government over the arrest of Satyendar Jain and asserted that the arrested minister can't be called corrupt.
The ED had arrested Jain on 30 May in a money laundering case after hours of questioning. The agency has alleged that the AAP leader and his wife had amassed disproportionate wealth worth ₹1.47 crore between February 2015 and May 2017, more than double their known sources of income.