Spotlight
oi-Oneindia Staff
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders rode bicycles to the Delhi Assembly demanding Education Minister Ashish Sood’s resignation over the bicycle scam in the Delhi government. While the BJP government purchased the bicycles at ₹6,957 each, AAP MLAs bought the same bicycles for ₹4,200 each and rode them to the Assembly. Party’s Delhi Unit Chief Saurabh Bharadwaj led the demonstration, with MLAs raising slogans of “Where will you find the bicycle thieves? In Rekha Gupta’s government.”
AAP leaders protested at the Delhi Assembly, alleging Education Minister Ashish Sood’s department overpaid by nearly ₹3,000 per bicycle, purchasing 1.3 lakh units for ₹6,957 each when similar models cost ₹4,200, suggesting a potential ₹40 crore scam.
The AAP Delhi Unit President said Ashish Sood’s department pocketed ₹40 crore in the purchase of ₹90 crore worth of bicycles distributed to schoolgirls. He said the bicycles purchased by the AAP government and those being distributed by the present government are both Bonfire models, but the government is distributing them with “Skyler” written on them.
AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “These are Hero bicycles, exactly like the ones being distributed to schoolgirls by the department headed by Delhi Government Education Minister Ashish Sood. There are only two differences between these two bicycles. The first is the price. We bought these from a retailer for ₹4,200 per bicycle, whereas the Delhi Government purchased 1.3 lakh bicycles and paid ₹6,957 for each.”
He continued, This means the Delhi Government bought each bicycle for nearly ₹3,000 more. The second difference is the model. The bicycles we purchased are labelled as the Bonfire model. The bicycles being distributed by the Delhi Government are also Bonfire models, but they are simply being labelled as Skyler.”
Highlighting the price difference, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated, “We bought this bicycle for ₹4,200, while the Delhi Government bought exactly the same kind of bicycle for nearly ₹7,000. If ₹3,000 is being taken as commission on each bicycle, one can imagine how big this loot is. Today, we are taking this bicycle to the Delhi Assembly. The Delhi Government has also brought the bicycles being distributed to the girls there. The two bicycles can easily be compared.”
Meanwhile, Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha said, “We have come to the House to expose another scam of the BJP government, the bicycle scam. The bicycle that I bought from the market for around ₹4,000 was shown in the tender at ₹7,000, and 1.3 lakh bicycles were purchased at that price. What is astonishing is that Hero Cycles also participated in the tender process, but it did not receive the tender, while a trader was awarded the contract.”
“If a trader is offering a bicycle at a price lower than the manufacturer itself, it is clear that there was collusion. Minister Ashish Sood’s department has swallowed ₹40 crore. The BJP is continuously stealing through medicines, bicycles, rice and ‘chanda-chori’. This is a government of thieves, and all the thieves will be found in the BJP office,” he added.
On the other hand, Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar stated, “Today, we are going to the Delhi Assembly on the same bicycle that we bought from the market for ₹4,000, while the BJP government bought the same bicycle for ₹6,957. This government is completely fraudulent and corrupt.”
In a post on ‘X,’ Kuldeep Kumar asked, “Where will you find bicycle thieves? In the Rekha Gupta government. Today, AAP MLAs reached the Assembly on bicycles and demonstrated against corruption by the BJP’s Rekha Gupta government in the purchase of bicycles being distributed to schoolgirls. The people of Delhi have only one question: when the same bicycle was available for ₹4,200, why was ₹6,957 per bicycle paid for the purchase of 1.3 lakh bicycles? This means there was a scam of around ₹3,000 per bicycle. Who ultimately received this money?”
Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh added, “A bicycle that is easily available in the market for ₹4,000 is being purchased for ₹7,000 under the Rekha Gupta government. The BJP’s greed for corruption has grown so much that it is now carrying out scams even in bicycles meant for girls. The government purchased 1.3 lakh bicycles at ₹3,000 above their market price. This BJP government, which carries out scams involving medicines, hospital beds, bedsheets and even ‘kafan’, has now committed a scam in bicycles meant for girls as well.”
Calling for accountability in the Assembly, Jarnail Singh asserted, “Today, we will demand an answer from the BJP’s Rekha Gupta government inside the House as to why a scam was committed in the bicycles meant for girls. With the amount involved in this scam, another 1 lakh bicycles could have been purchased and 1 lakh additional girls could have received bicycles. The government should be ashamed of this.”
