AAP has alleged a Rs 22,000-crore scam involving subsidised rice in Delhi.
Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed 31,000 metric tonnes were sought every week.
He alleged the rice was diverted through an Assam corporation to Haryana.
A fresh political row has erupted in Delhi after Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that subsidised rice meant for the capital’s poor was diverted through an Assam-based corporation and eventually sold to a private company in Haryana.
Bharadwaj, the AAP’s Delhi unit president and a former minister, has pegged the alleged arrangement at Rs 22,000 crore over three years. The figure is based on projections made by the AAP leader.
“A new scam of the Delhi government has come to light, and this scam is so big that it will blow your mind — a rice scam,” Bharadwaj said in a video posted on X.
What Is The Alleged Rice Trail?
Bharadwaj’s allegations centre on subsidised rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India.
According to him, such foodgrain is provided at concessional rates so state governments can distribute it to vulnerable people, including migrant workers, daily-wage earners and others who may not possess ration cards.
“For them, the Food Corporation of India gives rice to the state government at a very cheap, subsidised rate, so that the state government distributes it further,” he said.
Bharadwaj alleged that the Delhi government’s food and civil supplies department sought the rice from the FCI but asked for it to be supplied to a corporation based in Assam.
He claimed the foodgrain was then sold to a private buyer in Haryana rather than reaching beneficiaries in Delhi.
“This subsidised rice never reached even a single poor person. All the rice was sold to a private company in Haryana at heavy profits,” Bharadwaj alleged in his social media post.
Neither the Assam-based corporation nor the Haryana company was identified in the information provided.
How Much Rice Was Allegedly Involved?
The AAP leader claimed that the request involved a substantial quantity of rice: 31,000 metric tonnes every week.
“The Delhi government wrote to the Food Corporation of India saying, ‘give them 31,000 metric tonnes of rice every week... and it started being given, and this went on for several weeks’,” Bharadwaj said.
In his X post, he similarly alleged that a formal request was made to the FCI for “a huge quantity of 31,000 metric tons of rice per week” for distribution among Delhi’s poor.
Bharadwaj linked the request to the Delhi food department headed by BJP minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
“That department wrote a letter to the Food Corporation of India saying give them rice at subsidised rate,” he alleged.
Rs 22,000 Crore Figure
The Rs 22,000-crore figure is not presented as the value of rice allegedly diverted in a single transaction.
Instead, Bharadwaj has calculated it by projecting what he described as a weekly arrangement over a three-year period.
He put the alleged weekly value at Rs 143 crore.
“Not annual, not yearly, not monthly, but weekly — a Rs 143 crore weekly scam,” he said.
In his post, Bharadwaj further alleged: “This means a scam of Rs 143 crore per week was planned for 3 years. This was a planned scam of Rs 22000 crore in 3 years.”
He separately claimed that the Assam-based corporation was earning about Rs 70 crore every week in commission or profit, which he estimated could amount to around Rs 11,000-12,000 crore over three years.
Centre’s Vigilance Wing Detected It
Bharadwaj credited the Centre’s vigilance machinery with identifying the alleged arrangement.
“The central government's vigilance department caught this, and when they caught it, action fell on several people,” he said.
He did not, however, identify the people against whom action was allegedly taken or provide details about when the purported intervention occurred.
AAP’s Third Major Allegation In Three Months
The rice controversy is the latest in a series of allegations AAP has levelled against the BJP-led Delhi government.
In June, the party alleged irregularities worth Rs 650 crore in health department procurement, citing an Anti-Corruption Bureau FIR.
On August 2, AAP separately alleged that a Rs 90-crore tender for bicycles for Class 9 schoolgirls had been “tailored to a pre-selected firm”. The Delhi government rejected that allegation.
The latest charge now brings subsidised foodgrain into the political confrontation. The central question is whether rice sought at subsidised rates for vulnerable beneficiaries in Delhi was actually diverted for commercial sale, as Bharadwaj alleges.
