Health

Assam | ‘You’ll Face Criminal Defamation’: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Slams Sisodia

June 4, 2022
Bharat Times

New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday slammed Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia over his claims that the former’s family was involved in alleged malpractices in the supply of PPE kits during the Covid-19 pandemic, and threatened to file a defamation case against him over his “unfounded allegations”.

Taking to Twitter, Sarma 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.”

“While you Mr Manish 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 an Assamese covid victim’s body from Delhi’s mortuary,” the Assam CM wrote, adding, “Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation.”

Citing media reports, AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday said that Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was the Assam Health Minister back in 2020, had given contracts to companies related to his wife to supply PPE kits above market rates.

Speaking at a press release, Sisodia said that the Assam government procured the PPE kits for Rs 600 per piece from other companies, and gave urgent supply orders to the companies of his wife and son’s business partners for Rs 990 a piece, therefore, “taking advantage of the Covid-19 emergency”, news agency PTI reported.

“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,” PTI quoted Sisodia as saying.

Taking potshots at the BJP, he questioned the saffron party on their silence over an alleged corruption in a BJP-ruled state.

“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 said.

Meanwhile, the Assam government rubbished all claims of the alleged irregularities on supply of PPE kits.

“There was no scam in the supply of PPE kits and no member of the chief minister’s family were involved in the supply of any material related to the Covid pandemic,” Government spokesman Pijush Hazarika said, adding that the claims were “false, imaginary, malicious and can be attributed as the handiwork of a certain section with vested interests.”

Notably, the Opposition parties in Assam on Thursday sought an investigation by central agencies into the alleged irregularities in the supply of PPE kits. The Opposition Congress, Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) separately sought a high-level probe into the alleged malpractice.

“The detailed investigation by two media organisations proved that rules were flouted in awarding multi-crore contracts to firms owned by Sarma’s wife and family business associates for supplying PPE kits and other anti-COVID-19 goods,” PTI quoted state Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah as saying.

Quoting media reports, Borah alleged that supply orders were placed at 65% higher rates than the market prices, with companies owned by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the chief minister’s wife.

However, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, refuting all claims, on Twitter, said, “A website called The Wire has come out with an unfounded accusation with regard to my supply of PPE kits to the National Health Mission. In the first week of the pandemic, not a single PPE kit was available in Assam.”

She added, “Taking cognisance of the same, I reached out to a business acquaintance, and delivered around 1,500 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.”