AAP says govt sold rice for poor to private firm at twice the price; Minister refutes charge

The AAP alleged on Sunday that the BJP-led Delhi government orchestrated a "rice scam," involving the distribution of subsidized foodgrain for the poor through a private firm at twice the price. Delhi Food and Supplies Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa dismissed the allegations as "false" and "malicious." AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) agreed to supply 31,000 metric tonnes of rice weekly to an Assam-based corporation at a heavily subsidized rate.

He alleged that, instead of being distributed to the poor, the grain was sold to a private company in Haryana at Rs 46 per kg, while the Commission was Rs 23 per kg. Bharadwaj claimed that this arrangement would result in the private company receiving Rs 143 crore weekly from the sale, while the Minister and Chief Minister would earn Rs 11,000 crore in commission over three years.

According to Bharadwaj, the Assam-based corporation wrote to Sirsa on January 7, but the letter was kept pending for four months before being marked as positive on April 8. He alleged that Additional Commissioner Arun Kumar Jha was suspended after detecting the arrangement, but was subsequently suspended due to the Centre's vigilance department.

Sirsa posted on X, stating that Bharadwaj and Sanjeev Jha have made baseless, false, fabricated, and malicious allegations against him, intending to defame and malign him. Sirsa threatened to initiate legal proceedings against them if they did not withdraw the allegations and issue a public apology within 24 hours.