Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, has made allegations against the state government, claiming that it illegally granted a tender valued at Rs 152 crore to the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), founded by Prashant Kishor. I-PAC was previously appointed to strategize the Trinamool Congress’s campaign program for the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections.
According to Adhikari, the tender was related to the state government, which is under the control of the Chief Minister. He accused the government of cancelling the tender of state government undertaking Webel to favour I-PAC. Additionally, Adhikari claimed that the tender value was initially Rs 120 crore but was later raised to Rs 152 crore, resulting in corruption of Rs 32 crore that allegedly benefited I-PAC. He accused I-PAC of running a parallel state government and engaging in false propaganda on behalf of the West Bengal government.
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Adhikari stated that he received this information and related documents from certain bureaucrats in the state and has submitted them to the state Governor C.V. Ananda Bose. He added that if necessary, the Governor may ask the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate the matter. Adhikari also demanded that the Chief Minister should provide a white paper on the issue.
In response to the allegations, Trinamool Congress Spokesman Kunal Ghosh dismissed Adhikari’s claims as baseless. He accused Adhikari of having several corruption charges against him, including being named in the FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Narada video case, where he was allegedly seen accepting cash.
