AAP stages protest over alleged bicycle procurement scam

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday staged a protest near the Delhi Secretariat, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of an alleged bicycle procurement scam worth ₹40 crore.

The party alleged that the government bought 1.3 lakh bicycles under a scheme at “exaggerated” rates, with tender conditions allegedly tailored for specific companies. It demanded the resignation of Education Minister Ashish Sood.

Presenting the annual budget in March, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced ₹90 crore to distribute free bicycles to 1.3 lakh Class IX girls in government schools to curb dropouts. The government launched the scheme on July 31 by distributing bicycles to 3,000 students.

AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said party leaders had gone to the Secretariat to meet the Chief Minister, but she refused to meet them.

“A bicycle available in the market for ₹4,000 was bought by us for ₹4,000, and we paid ₹200 in tax on it. But when the government purchased 1.3 lakh bicycles, it bought each bicycle for ₹7,000. This means that the government and the contractor jointly pocketed a commission of around ₹40 crore on the bicycles. This blatant loot is right in front of everyone. We sent a complaint to the ACB [Anti-Corruption Bureau], but the agency has not registered an FIR, and Ms. Gupta is completely silent on the matter,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.

“The delegation will now meet the Lieutenant-Governor on Tuesday and seek action in the bicycle procurement case, as well as in other alleged scams,” he added.

‘Suppressed frustration’

Responding to the allegations, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the protest outside the Secretariat by a “handful” of AAP workers was not against alleged corruption but an attempt to “suppress the frustration among the workers over why their party chief Arvind Kejriwal wasted 11 years in power on false advertisements and scams”.

“To avoid answering questions from his own workers, Mr. Kejriwal makes ‘hit-and-run’ allegations of corruption against every scheme of the BJP government, so that neither his workers nor the people of Delhi get an opportunity to question him,” he said.