GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday dug up an April 6, 2020 tweet of his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal as the controversy surrounding alleged corruption in the supply of PPE kits got murkier.
“Gautam ji, thank u for ur offer. The problem is not of money but availability of PPE kits. We wud be grateful if u cud help us get them from somewhere immediately, Del govt will buy them. Thank u. twitter.com/GautamGambhir/…” Kejriwal had tweeted back then.
Sharing it on the micro blogging site, Sarma asked if Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia would think Kejriwal as corrupt as he had suo moto offered to buy PPE kits from anywhere without floating a tender.
“AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) leaders chose to contradict each other rather than fighting a crisis. People of Delhi are paying the price for this,” the Assam CM further wrote.
Sisodia targeted the BJP on Saturday, claiming that Sarma had given contracts to companies of his wife and son’s business partners to supply PPE kits above market rates during the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
The Assam CM reiterated the company in question wrote to National Health Mission (NHM), Assam stating that the supply of around 1,500 PPE kits for Covid warriors must be treated as CSR contribution and hence, not a single rupee must be paid by the government. He said the NHM had duly acknowledged it. He shared some documents in support of his claim.
“Manish bhai, this is not corruption; it’s humanity. My wife hasn’t committed a crime. She tried to help Assam at the time of its biggest crisis,” Sarma said.
Stating that throwing muck at others will not be accepted, he reiterated Sisodia would face legal consequences. The Delhi Deputy CM did not react.