The Congress on Sunday unleashed a well-calibrated move to corner the Modi Government over its handling of the Covid-19 situation.
In an apparent effort to show the mirror to Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose Assembly elections rallies in West Bengal is seeing huge gatherings, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi suspended his election rallies in the State due to the pandemic surge. At the same time, former Finance Minister Chidambaram also took a swipe at Modi for his poll preoccupation.
Rahul said he will be suspending his remaining engagements in West Bengal due to the Covid-19 surge and urged all political leaders to “think about the consequences of holding large public rallies”.
“In view of the Covid situation, I am suspending all my public rallies in West Bengal. I would advise all political leaders to think deeply about the consequences of holding large public rallies under the current circumstances,” Rahul wrote on Twitter.
His announcement comes a day after the country saw its highest single-day spike of over 2.61 lakh Covid-19 cases and the numbers of active cases surpassed the 18 lakh-mark.
Despite the surge in daily Covid-19 cases, election campaigning in West Bengal continues to be in full swing. On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah too held multiple rallies and roadshows in the state. Similarly, Modi, who is the face of BJP’s West Bengal campaign, held multiple rallies in the state on Saturday.
At a rally in Asansol, Modi had said he was “elated” to see the large crowd that had gathered on the ground.
Backing Rahul Gandhi, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram accusing Modi of showing “shocking callousness” by addressing rallies in West Bengal “instead of staying in Delhi” to handle the Covid pandemic situation.
“Thank you Prime Minister for sparing a little time for Covid amidst the urgent war to conquer WEST BENGAL and annex it to the BJP’s empire,” Chidambaram said on Twitter reacting to PM’s urgent meeting to review COVId situation a day earlier.
In another tweet, Chidambaram said while “no vaccine” boards hang on the doors of most hospitals, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan claims that “there is no shortage in the supply of vaccines”.
The former Union Minister alleged the Central Government which assumed all powers and authority failed to ensure adequate production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines. The spread of the infection can only be contained with massive vaccination, he noted.