COVID-19: Cong., BJP spar over purchases

Siddaramaiah steps up attack; govt. stands firm

KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah addressing presspersons in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Karnataka on Thursday saw the Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP lock horns over the expenses on managing the COVID-19 pandemic and the purchase of equipment.

Stepping up his attack against the State government, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, in a press conference in the morning, alleged that there was corruption to the tune of at least ₹2,000 crore in the purchase of equipment and other expenses. He demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge.

Within hours, five senior Ministers of the State Cabinet held a joint press conference to deny the allegations and also accused the Congress of “playing politics” amidst the pandemic.

They insisted that raising these issue at the present juncture is a “shame”, as it would end up demoralising the government which is busy fighting the pandemic.

While Mr. Siddaramaiah released documents to show that the expenses incurred by various departments was ₹4,167 crore, the Ministers insisted that the total expenditure so far was only ₹2,118 crore and questioned how Mr. Siddaramaiah had arrived at that figure.

However, Mr. Siddaramaiah argued that the government was only taking into account the money already released by the government, and not the procurement agreements of which some material has been supplied.

The Opposition leader and the ruling party Ministers also sparred over the rates of various key purchases. For instance, Mr. Siddaramaiah asked why PPE kits were purchased at ₹2,117, as against the market price of ₹330, and N-95 masks at ₹126 to ₹150 as against the market price of ₹50-60. The Ministers said that Karnataka had bought the PPE kits from China, when they were not being manufactured in India, between March and May, at ₹2,100. It is available for ₹570 now, they admitted.

On the masks, the Ministers argued that they were bought for around ₹97 when they were in short supply. These are now available at ₹44, they said. Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said that all details of purchases will be placed during the legislature session.