Manish Sisodia tries to cover tracks of Delhi Oxygen scandal. Gets exposed

Manish Sisodia – deputy chief minister of Delhi and Arvind Kejriwal’s right-hand man was caught lying through his teeth on Friday as he went on to publicly claim that the “audit report” by the SC-appointed committee had not been released yet and that it did not even exist. The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has been put on the backfoot, as the audit report stated with certainty that the oxygen needs of the national capital were inflated by four times during the Covid-crisis induced by the second wave of the pandemic in April-May. The Delhi government led by Kejriwal has dismissed the report.

But the AAP government’s dismissal of the damning report speaks volumes about Kejriwal, and his coterie’s culpability in orchestrating an oxygen crisis in the national capital and then blaming the Centre for the same – only to strongarm it via the judiciary into sending medical oxygen to Delhi way above the capital city’s requirement. “Supreme Court constituted Oxygen Audit Committee has not approved any report yet. Then, which is this report that BJP leaders have been quoting? I challenge BJP to bring this report signed by members of Oxygen Audit Committee,” Sisodia confidently said on Friday.

“BJP leaders have been talking about a so-called report which states that there was no O2 shortage in Delhi during COVID peak and Delhi exaggerated its O2 requirement by 4 times. Let me tell you that the report BJP has been quoting doesn’t even exist,” the deputy chief minister had also said. First, he claimed that no such report existed. Then, Sisodia went on to claim that the report had not been signed by members of the committee.

However, it was soon revealed that the report by the committee was sent both to the Supreme Court as well as the Delhi government on Tuesday, June 22 itself. Therefore, despite being in receipt of the said report, the AAP government of Delhi deemed it fit to address a press conference and claim that no such report existed.

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As reported by TFI on Friday, the SC audit report said that the inflation of the oxygen needs by the AAP government of Delhi adversely affected medical oxygen supply to 12 high caseload states – which were deprived of their fair share due to Kejriwal’s lies. The AAP government, in cahoots with certain hospitals, allegedly orchestrated the bogey of “oxygen shortage” in Delhi, thus hoarding vast amounts of medical oxygen which the capital city never required.

The judiciary exercising much more powers during the second wave of Covid-19 seems to have emboldened the AAP government of Delhi to carry out criminalities without any fear. The Delhi High Court, for instance, had told the Centre to supply oxygen to Delhi immediately, or face contempt. “Enough is enough. Now we mean business. Now you will arrange everything,” a division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli told the Centre during a special hearing on Saturday to monitor the Covid-19 situation in Delhi.

Justice Chandrachud of the Supreme Court, meanwhile, had told the Centre, “We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi on daily basis. Don’t make us go firm. We want 700 to be supplied to Delhi and we mean business. It has to be supplied and we don’t want to be coercive. Our order will take time to be uploaded by 3 pm. but you proceed and arrange the oxygen.” As it turns out, Delhi never required 700 MT of oxygen.

Read More: Kejriwal needs to be prosecuted for inflating Delhi’s oxygen needs and pushing other states into oxygen crisis

It remains to be seen whether the AAP government produced false information and lied to the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court to get its manufactured daily oxygen quota increased. If it did, it would be interesting to see whether the honourable courts enthusiastically take stern action against Arvind Kejriwal’s government for misleading them or let it off the hook.