BJP should sack BSY and Vijayendra from party posts over irregularities in purchases during pandemic, demands Congress

Interim report reveals ₹700 crore irregularities in COVID-19 purchases, urging BJP to remove Yediyurappa and Vijayendra from posts.

Claiming that the John Michael D’Cunha commission’s interim report on purchases during COVID-19 pandemic had shed light on irregularities worth about ₹700 crore, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday urged the BJP to drop former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and his son B.Y. Vijayendra from party posts.

While Mr. Yediyurappa is a member of the BJP’s Parliamentary Board, Mr. Vijayendra is the president of the party’s Karnataka unit. The Hindu on Saturday published an exclusive report from the excerpts of the commission’s report that spoke about irregularities in the purchases. The commission has recommended the prosecution of Mr. Yediyurappa and the then Health Minister B. Sriramulu in connection with purchase of PPE kits at exorbitant rates.

“We are speaking with evidence. The interim report has thrown light on irregularities worth ₹700 crore though the scam is worth over ₹3,000 crore. The PPE kits were purchased without checking for rates elsewhere. The Health Department decided to purchase 12 lakh PPE kits and fixed the price at ₹2,117.53 each. How was the rate arrived at?” the Minister said. In another instance, he said: “On April 10, 2020, Mr. Yediyurappa directed the purchase of one lakh PPE kits from Chinese company DHB at a price of ₹2,104.53 each and later revised it to ₹2,049.84. Interestingly, about a month earlier, Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation had purchased 1.2 lakh PPE kits at the rate of ₹330.4, on March 14, 2020. Who pocketed the difference of about ₹1,900 per PPE kit? While on March 23, 2020, the price of PPE kits to be supplied by eight local manufacturers was fixed at ₹1,444.8, the next day, on March 24, it was fixed at ₹656.25 for another company.”

The Minister said there is no answer as to why PPE kits were bought from a Chinese company when 18 lakh PPE kits were locally available. “The government paid ₹12 crore only for transportation of 21 crore PPE kits and paid money in full advance though it had to be paid after delivery. The DHB, which was started in 2019, received big orders and now that company does not exist. In whose name was this company registered?”

Mr. Kharge said that though the Directorate of Economics and Statistics has reported the death of 2.29 lakh people between January and July 2020, and the death of 4.26 lakh between January and July 2021, the BJP government has lied that only 37,206 people died due to COVID-19. “Out of greed, the BJP made money using dead bodies. It was the irresponsibility of the then BJP government. Several children have become orphans, livelihood has been lost, the financial stability of families was lost due to the death of only earning members, and businesses closed. Mr. Yediyurappa and his son Mr. Vijayendra should be removed from all party posts.”

Commission’s report to be discussed in Cabinet

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that the D’Cunha report would be discussed in the State Cabinet before any decision is made on its recommendations. “Let it come before the Cabinet and the decision will be taken later,” he told presspersons in Hubballi to a question on whether the government would take action against Mr. Yediyurappa and Mr. Sriramulu. Responding to former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s remarks that they would not be cowed down by false threats, he said: “How can a commission’s report become false? How can he say it is false after looting people’s money?”