Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has warned Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia of legal action after the AAP leader raised allegations of corruption in the supply of PPE kits during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sarma also alleged that the Delhi government had refused to help Assamese people stuck in Delhi despite his repeated calls.
Sisodia had claimed that Sarma, then health minister, gave contracts to companies of his wife and son's business partners to supply PPE kits above market rates. He had also 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 had alleged.
Sarma dismissed the allegations and said he will file a criminal defamation case against the AAP leader.
"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,” he said.
"Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation", Sarma warned.
He further said that his wife didn't take a single penny even though she donated around 1,500 PPE kits free of cost to the government.
"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 donated around 1,500 PPE kits free of cost to the government to save lives. She didn't take a single penny,” the chief minister said.
Sarma's wife Rinku Bhuyan Sarma also took to Twitter and refuted Sisodia's allegations.
"In the first week of the pandemic, not a single PPE kit was available with Assam. Taking cognizance of the same, I reached out to a business acquaintance and delivered about 1500 PPE kits to NHM with a lot of effort. Later on, I wrote to the NHM to treat the same as part of my CSR," she wrote.
"I didn't take a single penny out of the supply. I have always been transparent about my belief in giving back to society, irrespective of my husband's political standing," she further said.
