BENGALURU: Karnataka state president of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Prithvi Reddy on Saturday released 462 pages of documents, alleging that the state government had invited 1,830 tenders in just 24 hours and given them a limited timeline.
Addressing a press conference at the Aam Aadmi Party’s state office, the party’s state president Prithvi Reddy said, “Tenders have been called for 1,830 short-term works worth Rs 6000 crore in just 24 hours between 2.30 am on February 24 and 2.30 am on February 25.
There are reports that various tenders worth Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore have been called, but currently, we have only got information about tenders worth Rs 6,000 crore. What was the need to suddenly call for these short-term tenders in just 24 hours? As the elections will be held shortly, the burden of these tenders will be on the incoming government,” he said.
“Amit Shah came to Karnataka and said that BJP will give 100 per cent corruption-free administration. He said this instead of saying that there will be a 100 per cent commission regime in place of a 40 per cent commission regime. AAP is revealing documents and wants to know from where the BJP is getting money for distributing sarees, cookers, gold, silver, TV etc to voters across the state. Short-term tenders are called only in case of emergency. But now even though there is no such situation, tenders have been called to loot people’s tax money for elections,” said Prithvi Reddy.
“Teachers, civic workers, health workers etc are protesting for fair wages in various parts of the state, including Bangalore’s Freedom Park. The state BJP government is telling them that the government has no money. But does the government have the money only to call tenders for contract works? The government is ready to spend only where there is an opportunity to grab commission,” said Prithvi Reddy.
Aam Aadmi Party’s state communication in-charge Brijesh Kalappa said that the submission date of all these tenders is within March 15. From Bidar to Chamarajanagar, it includes tenders from almost all departments of the state government.
“This may be the first time in the world that so many tenders have been called at one time. Prima-facie, it seems like the tenders have been tampered with by pressuring the officials,” he said.
“A total of 456 tenders worth Rs 2,000 crore for the supply of water to one lakh houses of Rural Water Supply Department were invited. The Energy Department calls tenders worth Rs 4-5 crore for the construction of residential buildings compounds and other works. KPTCL has invited tenders three times for Mahindra Bolero vehicles without mentioning the estimated amount. All the tenders of the forest department have also been called simultaneously. All these tenders are short-term tenders of 7 to 15 days only,” Brijesh Kalappa said. (ANI)