Sack Delhi LG for illegal award of contract to daughter during his term at KVIC: AAP to PM Modi
New Delhi, Sep 2: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday alleged that Delhi LG V K Saxena misused his position and awarded a contract for interior designing of a Khadi lounge in Mumbai to his daughter when he was the KVIC chairman and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "immediately" sack him.
The party called it a case of "moral corruption" by Saxena and claimed that a financial angle in it would also come out if a fair and thorough probe is conducted into the award of interior designing work to his daughter Shivangi Saxena.
The LG Secretariat has denied the charge and said Saxena's daughter did the work pro bono.
Addressing a joint press conference with five party MLAs, AAP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged, "LG V K Saxena, during his term as KVIC chairman, misused his position and awarded a contract for interior designing of a Khadi lounge in Mumbai to his daughter. In awarding the contract, he violated the provisions of the KVIC Act 1961."
He said the prime minister should immediately sack Saxena as the Delhi LG and legal action should be taken against him for illegally awarding the contract to his daughter.
"The prime minister got only this tainted person (Saxena) in the country to appoint as Delhi LG? He must immediately be sacked, Singh demanded.
"If he is not immediately removed from the post and an enquiry is set up, Prime Minister Modi will not have any right to speak even a word on parivarvaad (dynasty system), he added.
Singh said the AAP is holding consultations with its senior lawyers and preparing to approach court in the matter.
"Delhi LG can't escape his misdeeds. We will soon be approaching court in the matter because the due process of awarding the contract was not followed," he said, asking "how can the KVIC chairman give a contract to his relative?"
Taking to Twitter, Singh had asked Saxena on Thursday if he had awarded a contract to his daughter without floating any tender when he was the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) chief.
Reacting to the AAP MP's allegation, the LG's office had tweeted that Saxena, as KVIC chairman, had got the design of the Khadi Lounge, Mumbai, made by his daughter, who is a designer, free of cost.
"It should be known that the Hon'ble Lt. Governor, as KVIC president, had got the design of Khadi Lounge, Mumbai, made free of cost (pro bono) requesting his daughter, who is a designer," the Raj Niwas had clarified in a tweet, adding, "Contrary to your (Singh's) statement, there was no tender for the design, and no one got the tender and instead, lakhs of rupees of KVIC were saved."
Replying to questions on the Raj Niwas's clarification, Singh said the KVIC Act clearly bars its officials from awarding any contract or work to any of their family members.
"What kind of logic is this? Saurabh Bharadwaj (AAP leader) who is a computer engineer, wants to do Central Vista IT work for free. Our Praveen Deshmukh (AAP MLA), who is an MBA, wants to take care of the management of the Prime Minister's Office for free. Will they be given this work? he asked.
The AAP MP said KVIC should have followed a due process to award the work for interior designing of the Khadi lounge as per rules and if it wanted the work to be done free of cost, it should have given an open invitation to rope in the best interior designer.
"Whether due process was followed? Whether any tender was floated or an open invitation was given for free service of the interior designers for the work. Saxena's daughter was the only best interior designer available in the country?" Singh asked.
He alleged that Saxena got the Mumbai Khadi lounge interior designing work done by his daughter and even got her name written in the inaugural plaque of the lounge for her professional gain.
The interior designing work was awarded to her even though she was not "much experienced", Singh added.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj as well as the party's legislators -- Atishi and Durgesh Pathak -- also held separate press conferences to demand sacking of Saxena and a probe against him in the matter.
"It's a case of moral corruption and I am confident that some financial angle would also surface if a fair and impartial probe is conducted into it," Pathak said.
Bharadwaj said Saxena should welcome a probe into accusations against him, as Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia did, and come out clean.
The AAP spokesperson took exception to the LG office issuing clarifications on allegations against Saxena through its official Twitter handle and called it inappropriate .
He should give all the clarification in his personal capacity. It is not right to issue clarifications through the official (Twitter) handle of a constitutional post. he said.
On Friday, the LG office in a tweet from its official handle shared a letter of KVIC, refuting the charge.
"The @kvicindia has issued a letter categorically stating that the entire cost of execution of the project of its Mumbai Lounge was Rs 27.3 lakh, contrary to fake figures being touted by leaders of a political party."
The AAP leaders also reiterated their demand for a probe into alleged involvement of Saxena in changing of demonetised currencies worth Rs 22 lakh during his term as KVIC chief in 2016.
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Comedian Shyam Rangeela files nomination from Varanasi LS seat on last day
Varanasi: Comedian Shyam Rangeela has finally filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, May 14, the last day of filing papers.
Rangeela, who intended to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged on Monday that he was being denied a nomination from the seat, as he along with several other candidates were reportedly made to wait for filling papers on May 10th and May 13th.
Shyam Rangeela, taking to his official ‘X’ handle, wrote, "With your love and support, I have completed all the requirements as per the rules and submitted the nomination. I also have full faith in the democracy of this country. Now the next two-three days are crucial. Thank you all very much for your cooperation. My electoral future rests in the hands of all election officials who are the custodians of our democracy. With the hope that they all strengthen our faith, Yours Shyam Rangeela.”
Alongside, Shyam, BJP candidate Narendra Modi, Log Party's Vinay Kumar Tripathi, BJP's Surendra Narayan Singh, independent candidates Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Reena Rai, Neha Jaiswal, Ajit Kumar Jaiswal, Ashok Kumar Pandey, Sandeep Tripathi filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.
According to the Election Commision of India, a total of 41 candidates have filed nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency.
आप सभी के प्यार और सहयोग से नियमानुसार सभी आवश्यकताओं की पूर्ति करते हुए मैंने नामांकन दाखिल कर दिया है, मेरा इस देश के लोकतंत्र पर अभी भी पुरा भरोसा है । अब आगे के दो तीन दिन महत्वपूर्ण होंगे।
— Shyam Rangeela (@ShyamRangeela) May 14, 2024
आप सभी का सहयोग के लिए बहुत धन्यवाद ।
हमारे लोकतंत्र के पहरी सभी चुनाव अधिकारीयों के… pic.twitter.com/JyIoFGDNli
