The AAP versus BJP war transcended Delhi boundaries on Saturday to reach far-off Assam. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia came up with allegations of corruption against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma in procurement of PPE kits from his wife and son’s business partner’s companies in 2020 when he was Health Minister and dared the BJP to get arrest Sarma arrested just as they had his Cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain,
Sarma and his wife both said the PPE kits were donated for free to the Government. The Assam Chief Minister also threatened to take criminal defamation against Sisodia.
At a press conference here, Sisodia claimed that while the Assam government procured PPE kits for Rs 600 a piece from other companies, Sarma gave urgent supply orders to the firms of his wife and son's business partners for Rs 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 Rs 1,680 per kit," Sisodia said citing a media report. He said two websites had collaborated on the story and published it two days ago.
Sisodia’s statement came hours after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the former would make a huge revelation against a top BJP leader soon, while sharing a tweet on Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges.
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," Sisodia added.
He said the Enforcement Directorate arrested Jain on "bogus" charges of corruption and the Centre told the court on Friday that he is "not an accused".
Responding to Sisodia’s charges, Sarma took to Twitter to defend his wife. He wrote, “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.”
Sarma said, “While you Sisodia at that point of time showed a completely different side. You refused my multiple calls to help Assamese people stuck in Delhi. I can never forget one instance when I had to wait 7 days just to get a Assamese covid victim’s body from Delhi’s mortuary. Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation,” Sarma wrote on Twitter.