Guwahati: Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, was sued for defamation by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of the chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday.
CM Sarma had previously stated that a civil defamation case would be brought against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader after accusing the Assam government of awarding contracts to his wife’s companies and his son’s business partners to supply PPE kits at prices above the market during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Advocate Padmadha Nayak filed the case in the Guwahati civil court on behalf of Mrs Sarma.
Nayak said, as you are aware on June 4, Manish Sisodia, a leader in the AAP and the deputy chief minister of Delhi held a press conference in Delhi and made comments against my client, stating that she had been awarded a government contract to provide PPE kits to the National Health Mission in March 2020. This claim is entirely incorrect and malicious”.
The advocate claimed that Mrs. Sarma contributed 1,485 PPE kits as part of her corporate social duty rather than ever giving the NHM any PPE kits as part of a business transaction.
“We have sued Manish Sisodia for civil defamation in Guwahati, and we anticipate that the matter will be heard tomorrow. We have filed a 100-crore rupee damage claim, Nayak added.
It needs to be mentioned that after the AAP leader’s accusations, a verbal spat erupted between Sisodia and Assam CM Sarma.
The Assam CM had vowed to file a defamation lawsuit in a stinging denial of Sisodia’s accusations.
While the government of Assam acquired PPE kits at Rs 600 each, the CM allegedly placed urgent orders with companies of his wife and son’s business partners for Rs 990 each. This was according to the deputy CM of Delhi, who said that the CM Sarma had profited from the pandemic.
Sisodia attached a supply order for 5,000 kits from NHM to JCB Industries, a company under the name of Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, as evidence for his assertions. Each kit cost Rs 990.
Citing a media report, Sisodia also stated that while the contract with the Assam CM’s wife’s company was cancelled because the company was unable to supply PPE kits, a new supply order was awarded to a firm owned by his son’s business partners at a cost of Rs 1,680 per kit.
Meanwhile, CM Sarma had reacted angrily to Sisodia’s claims that the state lacked PPE kits in 2020, when the pandemic was rampaging throughout India.
He took to Twitter to write, “My wife gathered the courage to come forward and donated around 1,500 of them free of cost to the government to save lives. She didn’t take a single penny.”
“Stop sermonising. I will see you in Guwahati as you (Sisodia) will face criminal defamation,” he said.