Oppn attacks Kerala govt over CAG report on PPE kit purchase

The opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded action against former health minister KK Shailaja on Wednesday citing the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report tabled in the assembly that put the spotlight on irregularities in the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former leader of opposition (LoP) Ramesh Chennithala and the current LoP VD Satheesan held a joint presser in the media room of the assembly and released documents showing alleged evidence of corruption by the LDF regime under Shailaja in the purchase of PPE kits.

“The government purchased PPE kits at ₹1,500 per piece from a firm when another firm had offered to supply the same kind of kits at ₹500. Isn’t this corruption? The then health minister has indulged in corruption. She (Shailaja) claims the chief minister was aware of the purchase. She is justifying the decision of the government to indulge in corruption when scores of people were dying. The then health minister naturally is the first accused in the case. Police action must be taken against them,” said Chennithala.

He said while a case regarding the subject is pending before the Lokayukta, the party will discuss on pursuing legal action against the government regarding the matter.

BJP leader and former Union minister V Muraleedharan said that a probe by an independent agency was warranted on the basis of the findings in the C&AG report.

“Earlier, when coal scam allegations rocked the UPA government at the Centre, the Marxist party was quick to demand a CBI investigation. Will the same Marxist party and its chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, request a CBI probe into the corruption during the Covid pandemic? The people of Kerala must not be fooled by the PR mechanisms of the current state government,” he said.

CPI(M) central committee member and former finance minister TM Thomas Isaac rejected the allegations of corruption.

“The C&AG is playing politics. All agencies and institutions are being misused by the BJP and its government at the Centre. The opposition in Kerala is supporting such actions of the central agencies. The C&AG is engaged in a war with the Kerala government. Earlier, the agency had come out against KIIFB as well and we had responded in kind. The government will respond to the current allegations as well,” he said.

The C&AG report has claimed that the LDF government gave undue favours to a Maharashtra-based firm by providing it 100% of the purchase value of the PPE kits as advance during the procurement of the products.

It said that the irregularities in the purchase of the PPE kits led to an additional expenditure to the tune of ₹10.23 crore.