AAP, BJP trade barbs over mishandling of epidemic

They attack each other over lack of effort

The BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday hurled accusations at one another over the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

While the BJP accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of “serving a new lie” about the pandemic at press briefings every day, the AAP attacked the BJP on COVID-19 management in Gujarat and also hit out at BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari for playing cricket in another State and violating the rules of the lockdown.

Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that Mr. Kejriwal had become “a machine of lies, as he seeks to hide the failures of the Delhi Health Department”. “Mr. Kejriwal should answer when the Delhi government will stop playing with statistics? How long will the Delhi government continue to harass the people of Delhi with data on infections?” he said.

Rohini MLA Vijender Gupta alleged that the health system of Delhi had collapsed and the pandemic had reached unauthorised settlements as well as slums.

Meanwhile, AAP MP Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of being insensitive to the plight of the poor and stranded migrants and attacked Mr. Tiwari for playing cricket in another State.

“Every day thousands of poor migrants are walking on the streets of India. Many of them have lost their lives due to road accidents. But ignoring such a humanitarian crisis, how can an elected public representative go to another State to play cricket? How can a public representative be so insensitive?”

‘Gujarat has failed: AAP

Alleging mismanagement of the virus outbreak in BJP-led Gujarat, Mr. Singh said that the High Court there had said that the condition of State civil hospital were as good as a dungeon.

“Around 865 people have died in Gujarat due to the virus and the number of deaths in the State is the highest in India. It is crystal clear that the health infrastructure of Gujarat has completely failed,” the AAP MP added.