Muristek
Corruption allegation: Sisodia chooses silence; Assam CM Sarma threatens again to sue him in criminal defamation case
Ravi S Singh
New Delhi, June 5
The Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday remained silent on his yesterday's allegation of corruption on the part of Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma when he was the Health Minister in the state, but the latter escalated the matter and again threatening to sue him in a criminal defamation case.
Sarma postedon his Twitter handle a letter from JCB Industries, January 26, 2020, to theDirector of National Health Mission, intimating that it had contributed 1,485 PPE kits under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative as a support to the State of Assam in its fight against the Covid pandemic.
The letter said since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic the whole country has been striving incessantlyto overcome the crisis, and challenges emanating from them.
"At this critical timing, we at JCB Industries are also endeavoring to contribute to this fight against the pandemic and expressing our solidarityby extending our supportthrough various means and channels. One of the initiatives taken by us from our Corporate Social Responsibility funds is to procure and distribute PPE kits for the country to the country's healthcare fighters through MoH and FW of various States."
The Mission Director, vide a letter dated March 27, 2020, acknowledged to JCB Industries of its contribution of the PPE kits through the forum of its own CSR.
Sarma, while tagging the two letters in his tweets, said: "The company in question wrote to Assam's NHM stating that 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 Govt."
"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."
"Throwing muck at others will not be accepted. You will face legal consequences," Sarma said.
Sisodia had alleged that Sarma as Health Minister had given government contracts to business firms of his wife and the ones run by his son's associates to procure Covid kits at inflated prices Sharma prices.
Sarma was quick to rebut the accusation, and had threatened to sue Sisodia in a defamation case.