NEW DELHI | Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj hit back at Delhi government Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa for threatening defamation action while calling the rice scam false. Saurabh Bharadwaj said Manjinder Singh Sirsa should tell Delhiites the truth about the rice scam instead of threatening legal action.
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief questioned which part of his press conference was untrue, asking whether Manjinder Singh Sirsa had not forwarded NERAMAC (North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation) Corporation’s request to his department to send subsidised rice, whether the Corporation had distributed the rice received from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) among Delhi’s poor, whether it had not illegally sold the rice to a private company in Haryana, and whether Arun Jha had not been suspended. Saurabh Bharadwaj said that if any part of his statement was false, Manjinder Singh Sirsa should identify it so that he could consider withdrawing it.
In a video message, AAP Delhi Unit President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “BJP Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa became angry over just one press conference. He should have shown this anger not towards the AAP, but towards the Corporation. He should have filed a case against the Corporation with which his department was involved in looting crores of rupees. Instead, he is angry with us and threatening to file a case against us.”
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief said Manjinder Singh Sirsa should clarify which of the statements made by the Aam Aadmi Party is false. “At the very least, tell us whether that letter is false. Is it false that the letter, in your own handwriting, was addressed to the Special Commissioner with a direction to consider the matter positively as per the rules and provisions, and that it is dated 8 April 2026? Is that letter and your handwriting on it false? If it is false, tell us and we will apologise,” he stated.
He further asked whether it was also false that, following this, Additional Commissioner of his department Arun Kumar Jha wrote to the Food Corporation of India asking that the 31,000 metric tonnes of rice meant for Delhi’s poor be given to this Corporation. “Is it false that Arun Kumar Jha was subsequently issued a show-cause notice stating that the rice meant for the poor was wrongly given to the Corporation in Assam and that the Corporation sold it to a private company in Haryana? If this is false, tell us and we will apologise. But at least tell us what exactly is false in all this,” he added.
The senior AAP leader said, “If this is the truth, Manjinder Singh Sirsa should have the courage to face it. What has made the minister so angry that he is threatening to file a defamation case? He should have filed a defamation case against the Corporation, against which he has taken no action. He should have held a press conference and told the people that such a massive loot had taken place in his department and that he would take strict action against it. He did not even post a single tweet about it, even though he should have made this information public.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned why Manjinder Singh Sirsa had not held a press conference if he was planning to distribute 31,000 metric tonnes of rice among the poor every week. “The minister should have informed the public that he was going to distribute such a large quantity of rice, so that if the rice was not distributed, poor people themselves could have reported that they had not received it,” he noted.
He further said the minister did not even know about the scam and that it was the Central Government’s vigilance department that detected the theft, after which the minister was now threatening the AAP instead.
Addressing Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Such conduct will not work. You have only recently become a minister. Whenever any mistake or corruption in your department comes to light, we will hold press conferences in the same manner. If you want to send a defamation notice, send one. If you want to file a case, certainly do so.”
He concluded by asserting that Manjinder Singh Sirsa must learn to respond to a press conference with a press conference and should show courage by coming forward with the facts.
