Pointing to the explosive Covid-19 situation in the national capital, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over their petty politics on the pandemic.
Capt Amarinder termed as ‘irresponsible’ the AAP campaign to spread negative propaganda against the Punjab Government over the latter’s handling of the COVID-19 situation.
In his fourth round of virtual meeting with the Congress MLAs to discuss the COVID-19 crisis in the State, the Chief Minister said that India is facing a war-like situation, just as the world is, and a united fight alone could tackle the problem. But AAP was busy indulging in petty politics amidst the crisis, he said.
Noting that the Congress was helping governments in all states in tackling the pandemic, even where it was not in power, Capt Amarinder said that he was also ready to help any State that asks for it, be it Delhi, Himachal Pradesh or Haryana.
“That is the only way to fight the crisis”, he said adding, “If tomorrow Delhi needs my help, I will willingly offer it.”
Contrary to what AAP was projecting, the fact was that Delhi’s situation was much worse than Punjab, said the Chief Minister.
With 2.90 crore population, Punjab has 18,000 active cases, while Delhi with 1.80 crore has 25,000 plus active cases.
Even Haryana has lesser population than Punjab but an equal number of active cases, he noted.
FREE FOOD PACKETS TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE FOR TESTING
To encourage poor people to come out for testing, Capt Amarinder said that Punjab Government had already started distributing free food packets to those in isolation and with no source of livelihood in this situation. He asked the MLAs to work with the District Administration to ensure that the food packets reach the needy so that the poor do not hold back from getting themselves tested for fear ofbeing left without livelihood during isolation.
NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA IMPACTING TESTING, SAYS MLAs
Most of the MLAs agreed that the negative propaganda by Opposition parties, who were also blatantly violating norms to engage in political activities, was impacting their efforts to motivate the people into early testing. Social distancing was also not being followed despite all their efforts, they said. The legislators also complained of private hospitals making a killing out of the COVID-19 crisis by overcharging patients despite the cap imposed by the state government.