New Delhi. Anti-corruption body Lokpal has floated a tender to purchase seven BMW luxury cars for its members. After this tender came out, a new debate has started. Congress has cornered the Modi government on the issue.
In fact, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram has criticized this step of Lokpal. P Chidambaram asked why the Lokpal chairman and his six members need BMW cars when Supreme Court judges have modest sedans? Let us tell you that the price of all the cars whose tender has been floated by Lokpal is around Rs 70 lakh.
‘Many members will refuse to buy a car’
P Chidambaram wrote on social media platform X that why should public money be spent to buy these cars? I hope at least one or two members will or will refuse to buy these cars.
At the same time, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi wrote on Twitter that it is a sad irony to see that this anti-corruption body is now ordering BMWs for its members, the guardians of honesty are running after luxury more than legitimacy. He also said that the Lokpal has received 8,703 applications since its inception in 2019. Of these, only 24 investigations were conducted and 6 prosecutions were sanctioned.
Know how the controversy started
It is noteworthy that a notification was issued on 16 October. In this, Lokpal invited an open tender for the supply of seven BMW 3 Series Li cars. According to reports, BMW will also be asked to provide seven-day training to Lokpal’s drivers and staff. After this tender came out, the opposition started cornering the government.
Let us tell you that the Chairman of Lokpal is former Supreme Court judge Justice AM Khanwilkar. The members include retired judge Justice L. Narayan Swamy, Justice Sanjay Yadav and Justice Ritu Rat Awasthi, former Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and retired judge bureaucrats Pankaj Kumar and Ajay Tirkey.