Raising questions of impropriety, Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu on Sunday hit out at former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for taking Rs 1.4 crore education loan for his son from two Punjab MPs.
Hinting at a possible 'quid pro quo' or cash-for-Rajya Sabha seat scam, the MoS from Punjab said Romesh Mittal, who gave the education loan for Sisodia's son, is the brother of AAP MP Ashok Mittal, who owns a private university.
Guneet Arora, a relative of another AAP Rajya Sabha MP, gave a personal loan to Sisodia.
They supported wealthy education tycoons from Punjab to enter the Rajya Sabha and then took loans from them, said Bittu.
He said that such financial arrangements were made to send Sisodia's son to study in Canada after incidents like the liquor scam and the irregularities during the Covid period.
Leaders in the BJP are questioning the terms under which wife of Sisodia, accused in the excise policy case out on bail, has taken personal loans of Rs 1.54 crore, considering that he has declared his family's total assets to be worth only Rs 57 lakh.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva earlier said, "Manish Sisodia's election affidavit speaks volumes, indicating that like ordinary people, Sisodia makes fixed deposits in banks, but when he needs a loan he has friends who lend him millions of rupees, even on long-term basis," he said, questioning the hidden terms under which the Rs 1.54 crore loans were given to the wife of former minister who drafted the controversial liquor policy.
The affidavit by Sisodia refers to the pending loan amount against his wife to meet the cost of their son's education which are Rs 86 lakh with Romesh Chander Mittal, Rs 58 lakh with Guneet Arora and Rs 10 lakh with Deepali.
It identifies Meer Sisodia as a dependent. The details regarding Scotiabank, 392 Bay Street, Toronto are also included. This is where AAP leader has opened three separate accounts for parking funds meant for the education of his son.
The affidavit also shows foreign exchange assets of about Canadian $3,980 (Rs 2.4 lakh) in the foreign bank.
Earlier, Bittu exposed the false claims made by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia-led government regarding Delhi’s education system and highlighted the security lapses in Punjab under the AAP government, which led to the murder of Punjab singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
Union Minister Bittu termed Kejriwal and Sisodia's false promotion of their education policies across electoral states as "super flop" schemes.
He claimed that in the 12 years of governance of AAP-led Delhi government, they have not opened any new college or school.
"The quality of the existing universities under the Delhi government is so poor that Sisidia himself does not deem them good enough for his own children and has opted to send his son to Canada to study," Bittu said.
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