BJP accuses Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Rahul Gandhi of corruption in exam contract

The BJP on Thursday accused Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of corruption in awarding a contract for conducting public examinations in the state.

The Jharkhand Government on August 18 cancelled 22 recruitment examinations and ordered probes into 23 others conducted since 2014 by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC), Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) and outsourced agency TDPL, amid a prolonged student agitation over alleged irregularities.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that a blacklisted company, TDPL, was given responsibility of conducting public examinations by the Jharkhand Government, which subsequently outsourced the work to Picker Technology without a formal tender process.

“You all know that students protested in Jharkhand, and the entire country stood with those students. But the painful part is that as investigation progresses, it is emerging that TDPL, which is a blacklisted company, was given the entire responsibility of conducting the examination by the Jharkhand Government,” Bhandari said.

He alleged that TDPL did not even issue a tender and outsourced examination-related work to a “shell company” — Picker Technology — without a formal agreement.

“No tender was issued, no bidder was called to conduct the examination, and the agency to which you gave the tender, which we all know was blacklisted, outsourced it to a third agency called Picker Technology. All the dealings in this regard had nothing to do with formal bank transaction. Everything was done in cash,” he said.

Bhandari claimed the entire arrangement is prima facie a case of “quid pro quo” and targeted Rahul Gandhi and Hemant Soren, alleging corruption in conduct of the examinations.

“This is a prima facie case of quid pro quo. And the buck stops with the chief minister of Jharkhand, which is Hemant Soren,” he said.

“And we ask Rahul Gandhi, where is your moral high ground today?” Bhandari jibed, saying these revelations raise serious questions about how Gandhi and Soren are “delivering justice to students”. He also questioned the alleged involvement of ministers and officials, saying if cash dealings took place, “the money must have gone somewhere”.

Bhandari said the allegations are based on a statement made before the Jharkhand CID, claiming that the director of Picker Technology admitted there was no copy of the tender and that the transaction was carried out in cash. He asked Gandhi and Soren to clarify the Government’s stand.

Stating the charges, Bhandari said, “First, we all know that Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Rahul Gandhi gave the tender to a tainted company. Second, because there was no tender in writing, did some corruption money change hands between any Jharkhand minister or the chief minister?”

He also questioned how the contract was awarded to Picker Technology without issuance of a formal tender. “Why was the tender not issued? Did any call come from the chief minister’s office or any minister saying that you should give this contract to Picker Technology without issuing a formal tender?”