AAP raises Rs 22cr scam charge against Minister Ashwath Narayan

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that Health Minister C N Ashwath Narayan is involved in a Rs 22 crore scam related to the supply of toolkits for 13,000 Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe students in the Industrial Training Institutes in the state.

The party’s Bengaluru City President Mohan Dasari said that a ‘bogus firm’, which was entrusted with the supply of goods worth Rs 22 crore, produced fake GST bills.

“The GST council has also proved that those bills are fake. Despite knowing this fact, the officials in the department and the minister have awarded the tender worth crores to this company,” he said.

AAP leaders said that the firm’s tender was initially rejected for not meeting the minimum qualification. However, a retendering was done as only one firm had participated and the same company qualified the second time by allegedly producing fake purchase order copies, they said.

AAP leaders demanded that the company be blacklisted and the tender given to it cancelled immediately. They persuaded the government to register a criminal case against the minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act.