Kejriwal used govt funds to buy mobiles costing up to Rs 1.63 lakh: Delhi Minister Ashish Sood

New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) Slamming double-standards on austerity, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday hit out at the previous Aam Aadmi Party government and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for wasteful expenditure and using public funds to buy high-end mobile phones costing up to Rs 1.63 lakh.

Addressing mediapersons, Sood said the AAP government spent almost double the official limit set for the cost of mobile phone to be used by the Chief Minister and other ministers.

He said in 2013, the rules allowed the Chief Minister to get a mobile phone worth Rs 50,000 and permitted ministers to buy a phone costing up to Rs 45,000 each.

“However, AAP leaders purchased mobile phones exceeding the limit for their own use and also put pressure on government officials to pay for them. But, now they are accusing the BJP government of giving orders to buy expensive phones for Ministers.”

Sood gave a detailed account about the expensive phones purchased by four senior functionaries of the previous government — Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj — explaining how, despite there being an official cap, these leaders bought high-end phones and exerted undue pressure on the government officials to pay the bills for those phones from the tax-payers’ money.

The Delhi Minister stated that for a public representative, a mobile phone is a necessity — it is essentially a mobile office. “However, there must also be rules, regulations, and laws in place,” he said.

He explained that Kejriwal took four mobile phones from the Delhi government, between 2015 and 2022. The first phone was an iPhone 6s Plus, acquired on December 1, 2015, costing Rs 81,000 — despite the purchase limit being Rs 50,000.

The second phone, an iPhone 7 Plus, was taken on September 12, 2017, at a cost of Rs 69,000. The third, an iPhone 12 Pro Max, was purchased on December 4, 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, for Rs 1,39,900.

The fourth, an iPhone 13 Pro Max, was taken on July 13, 2022, costing Rs 1,63,900.

“Despite the official limit being ₹50,000, these phones significantly exceeded the cap,” said Sood.

He said that the then government official, in a note, acknowledged that the amount spent on the iPhone was on the higher side.

Further, he noted that the Chief Minister's office wrote letters regarding these phones stating, "Amount spent is on the higher side of the prescribed limit for purchase of phone for CM. It is believed that relaxation has been sought beyond the prescribed limit towards purchase of phone."

Essentially, requests were made to relax the Rs 50,000 purchase limit in order to approve these high-end phone purchases, he said.

Sood further stated that the then-minister Manish Sisodia purchased a Samsung Galaxy S8 with accessories on July 11, 2017, for Rs 59,899. In 2018, he again bought a Samsung S8 for Rs 49,000.

Then in 2019, he purchased another phone along with accessories for Rs 1.12 lakh. In 2021, he bought an iPhone 12 Pro Max for Rs 1.66 lakh, and on October 11, 2022, he purchased an iPhone 13 Pro Max for Rs 1.37 lakh, he said.

Sood emphasised the pattern: a phone was bought in 2017, again in 2018, again in 2019. “They couldn't get one in 2020, but then got phones again in 2021 and 2022,” he said, pointing out how these expenses kept rising, even during the critical period of the pandemic.

During the pandemic, Kejriwal purchased phones worth Rs 1.40 lakh and Rs 1.64 lakh and Sisodia bought phones costing Rs 1,66,700 and Rs 1.37 lakh. As ministers, their authorised limit was only Rs 45,000 each, said Sood.

The Education Minister pointed out that even then, they approached the government seeking ex-post facto approval — asking for retrospective permission after already purchasing the phones.

--IANS

rch/pgh