New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that “a big scam” worth crores has taken place in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh in the implementation of a supplementary nutrition scheme, and said it will file a complaint with the CBI.
Addressing a press conference, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj cited findings of the accountant general’s audit report and hinted at Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s involvement in it as the state women and child welfare department, which implemented the scheme, comes under him.
“It’s a big scam to the tune of crores. We are going to file a complaint with the CBI today to seek a probe into it,” he said.
Bharadwaj said the state government’s scheme having an outlay of Rs 2,500 crore pertained to providing “fortified food” to children in the age group of six months to three years, lactating mothers and girls who have dropped out of schools.
Terming the accountant general’s audit findings “shocking”, the AAP leader said the registration numbers of the vehicles mentioned as trucks, which were used in the transportation of the take-home ration under the supplementary nutrition scheme across 50 districts of Madhya Pradesh, turned out to be of “motorcycles, cars and water tankers”.
“Such a big story of corruption is being run on TV channels since many days but no action has been taken by the CBI or the ED so far as the case is against a chief minister of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own party (BJP). The department which implemented the schemes comes under Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” he charged.
The prime minister should get the “scam” probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bharadwaj added.
The accountant general’s audit report on the take-home ration (THR) component of the supplementary nutrition programme ‘poshan-aahar’ has kicked up a political row in the state, with the Congress also alleging corruption in its implementation.
However, the Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday denied any irregularities in the implementation of the scheme and said the accountant general’s audit report on the programme was “not final”.