TN BJP President K Annamalai released a video, showing documents allegedly pointing to favouritism in the awarding of tender by the Health Department, for a nutrition kit given to pregnant women.

news Politics Tuesday, June 07, 2022 - 19:07
TNM Staff

The BJP and DMK continued to trade charges against each other, with the BJP firing the latest salvo on Tuesday, June 7, as the Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai put out a video tweet reiterating his allegations regarding the tender for nutrition kits provided to pregnant women by the government. The DMK government’s mouthpiece Murasoli, had on Tuesday morning, published a full-page article responding to Annamalai’s allegations.

In the video, Annamalai questioned why the company that was accused of corruption in supplying Pongal kits was given a chance to bid for the tender. “The CM said that the company would be blacklisted. Why was it not done? Why is Anitha Texcot allowed to bid again?” he asked. Recalling the Health Minister saying that the bids were not yet complete, the BJP chief said that the technical bid was over, and the financial bid was yet to be conducted.

“Aavin came forth and said that they were prepared to supply the nutrition mix. They submitted reports to the Department of Health and Preventive Medicine, who also approved the product in the list of maternal nutrition kit,” he said, while showing an image of the document, in which Aavin’s Health Mix has been listed as one of the product, against which it also states “yet to be finalised”.

Annamalai pointed to documents pertaining to three meetings held in March in this regard and stated that the decision was reversed in April. “I mentioned two names already close to the DMK family who got the company name changed. How can we accept the Minister's explanation?” he questions.

“Who is responsible if a decision is reversed after Aavin came forth saying it was ready to supply and submitted the necessary lab reports? Why is the Minister lying? Why is Aavin being insulted to protect someone else? There has been a transaction of Rs 100 crore. Who has received this money?” he questioned. Annamalai also charged that the Minister was lying to protect someone, as the same company which supplied iron syrup for the kit at a cost of Rs 200 per bottle in February, had bid for the same amount in this technical bid also.

Trading charges back and forth

Earlier, DMK’s mouthpiece Murasoli rubbished the allegations and countered Annamalai by raising questions about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah’s business interests. The response came a day after TN Health Minister Ma Subramanian, responded to the allegations made by Annamalai about irregularities in awarding contracts by the government. Ma Subramanian said that financial bids were yet to take place, and challenged Annamalai to prove his allegations. The article in the DMK mouthpiece raised questions about and listed out the companies floated by Jay Shah, after BJP came to power; and the list of companies in which he is a shareholder.

What Annamalai claimed

On Sunday, Annamalai had claimed that there was a contract made between the state government and a private firm, for supplying a nutrition mix, meant to be included in the health kits distributed by the state government to pregnant women. He also pointed out that the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine had found that the firm was overcharging and decided to give the contract to Aavin, the dairy company run by the Tamil Nadu government.

“While this change was to bring down the cost by 60%, the decision taken by multiple committees was reversed in favour of the private firm. The kits are being prepared for a two-year period,” he said. He said that two persons close to the DMK party had an important role in this, which was allegedly meant to favour the CM’s family.

He also said that the iron syrup was available in the market for Rs 42, but was being purchased from the same private firm under his allegation, for Rs 224. “The government will lose Rs 77 crore in the deal, so the tender should be cancelled,” he demanded.

Annamalai also referred to the G-square real estate which came under public lens for filing cases against journalists, and alleged that the members of Chief Minister’s family had created around 30 shell companies and that there was “an alarming trend of favouritism” in granting approvals to certain real estate companies. He also accused the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and the Directorate of Town and Country Planning of approving around 15 projects launched by G-square real estate within a short span of time, and alleged irregularities in the process.

“After the DMK government came to power, they made a smart move to favour this real estate firm through online approvals from the CMDA. But I have information that the online facility is disabled all the time, except when this real estate firm places submissions for their projects. An hour before their submissions, the online facility will be enabled, and disabled soon after it is completed, denying the same opportunity for other builders in the state,” Annamalai alleged and added that the CM’s son-in-law Sabareesan had started six other companies, in which Sabareesan and Stalin’s daughter Senthamarai are shareholders.

Health Minister denies allegations

Meanwhile, on Monday, Health Minister Ma Subramanian held a press meet to respond to Annamalai’s allegation. He rejected the BJP president’s allegations and pointed out that the contract bid has not yet taken place. “How is it fair when the tender has not yet opened? He has to prove his charges,” Mr Subramanian said.

The Health department also issued a statement against Annamalai’s accusations, saying that the iron syrup was approved by nutritionists in 2018. The department also said that one bottle of 200 ml syrup was obtained at Rs 74.65 against the market rate of Rs 112. The department also said that Annamalai’s claim about the nutrition mix was wrong and that the milk powder provided by Aavin was a dairy whitener and not a nutrition mix.

While the Minister responded to the charges made by Annamalai, DMK’s Murasoli responded to his allegations regarding G-square realtors. The article points out that the firm was started in 2012 “during the AIADMK regime”. Further, the article says that Sreekala and Rangasamy Ramajeyam - who are shareholders of the company – have been in the business for a long time, even before DMK came to power. On the businesses in which CM Stalin’s family members are involved, the article while elaborating the starting date said, “Most of the companies he listed were started during the AIADMK period.”

The article focused on companies that were started after BJP came to power, in which Jay Shah is connected to. The article also gives details about the growth of shares in these companies and another list of organisations in which Jay Shah is a shareholder.

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