Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has hit back at Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for claiming that his family had committed a scam in regards to purchase of 5000 PPE kits during Covid-19 pandemic. Sarma has said that his wife had done nothing wrong and had only tried to help the state in times of dire need. He also warned that such baseless claims could lead to legal charges against him.
Sarma said that Sisodia’s claims were baseless because his wife had been very generous during a difficult period and had donated 1500 kits to the Assam government. Replying to the senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sarma tweeted, “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’s comments follow Sisodia’s claims that the Assam CM took advantage of the emergency situation during the pandemic in 2020 and placed order for 5000 kits with his wife’s company JCB Industries. He said , while the state government had acquired PPE kits at Rs660 per unit from other companies, those from his wife’s company were priced at Rs990 per unit in the contract.
Sarma has further said that Sisodia could face defamation charges for alleging that the Assam government bought the PPE kits from his wife’s company at rates that were higher the those in the market.
