Sisodia accuses Assam CM of corruption in PPE kits deal; stop sermonising, says Sarma

Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia has accused Assam CM Himanta Biswas Sarma on Saturday (June 4) of giving PPE kit deals to his wife’s companies and his son’s partners during the COVID pandemic in 2020. The PPE kits were to be supplied above markets rates as Sarma was “taking advantage of the COVID-19 emergency”, added Sisodia quoting from media reports.

Sarma responded to the allegations by tweeting: ‘Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation.’

Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation.

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 4, 2022

Two websites had collaborated on the story and published this expose a couple of days ago.

Sisodia said at a press conference today said that the Assam government had procured PPE kits for ₹600 a piece from other companies but Sarma gave orders for ₹990 a piece to the companies of his wife’s and his son’s business partners.

Further, he alleged, that the contract given to Sarma’s wife’s company, which was not even in the business of making medical equipment, was cancelled since they could not deliver the PPE kits. Instead, the contract was given to Sarma’s son’s business partners at ₹1,680 per kit, said Sisodia quoting the figures from media reports.

Then Sisodia attacked the BJP party members for being silent about this act of corruption by a Chief Minister from a BJP ruled state. He questioned the BJP’s hypocrisy over talking about corruption of members from Opposition parties and levelling baseless allegations at them.

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Sisodia asked, “I want to probe their understanding of corruption… want to ask them if they consider this (Assam case) corruption or not.” Then he went on to cite the example of how the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Delhi cabinet minister and AAP leader, Satyendar Jain on “bogus” charges of corruption.

The Centre then had told the court on Friday that Jain is “not an accused”. The ED had alleged that Jain and his wife were involved in hawala transactions with a Kolkata based firm and had amassed disproportionate wealth worth ₹1.47 crore between February 2015 and May 2017.

They had arrested Jain on May 30 after hours of questioning. The agency had alleged that the AAP leader and his wife had more than double their known sources of income. After the arrest, Arvind Kejriwal lambasted the Central government for using central agencies to harass them. A charge which is levelled by other Opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao as well.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that AAP will later today “expose” a senior BJP leader to reveal corruption in the party.

Sharing a news report on Twitter, Kejriwal said that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will today ‘expose’ a senior BJP leader, who is allegedly indulged in corruption.