Hyderabad: BJP president J P Nadda on Monday launched a scathing attack on the TRS government in Telangana over handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing it of ‘negligence’ and being in a state of ‘slumber’.
Addressing BJP activists in the state through video conference from New Delhi, he also slammed the government for not implementing the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.
I condemn the way the Telangana government neglected COVID-19 the government has not made arrangements. There is no proper testing facility. We know that the life of a journalist was lost due to shortage of oxygen, he said.
“Ye kaisi soyi huyi sarkar hai” (What sort of a government is this, that is in slumber. It remains indifferent even on a humanitarian issue like COVID management, he said.
The BJP president, who had in June also criticised the the K Chandrasekhar Rao government over the COVID-19 handling, said the state high court has also rebuked the government on the issue.
Nadda also said that as a former union health minister he felt sad that the TRS government had ‘deprived’ nearly one crore people in the state of the benefit of the Centres Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme by not implementing it.
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to ensure that the poor gotannual health coverage of Rs five lakh, the state government deprived the people of the benefit, he said.
Nadda, who performed the “Bhumi Pujan” for BJP offices in nine districts in Telangana, alleged it cost about Rs one lakh per day in for treatment of a patient in the intensive care unit (in private hospitals).
Repeating his slumber barb, he said: “On one side, Modi is making all efforts to see that people are benefited, but, on the other side, the TRS government is not able to take advantage of it.”
He also claimed the allotted foodgrains were not properly distributed to the needy and said it was a matter of concern.
Noting that the TRS had promised, six years ago to provide houses for seven lakh poor, he said not more than 50,000 houses have been built so far.
Will KCR (Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao) give an answer to this? he asked.
Alleging that expenditure on the Kaleswaram irrigation project across Godavari river had increased substantially, he asked what else it “if it (the rise) is not due to corruption.”
The TRS had also promised one lakh jobs but has anyone got jobs after six years? he asked.
This government is in sleep. Development is absolutely stalled. No money is allotted for development. This government is going on by misleading people, Nadda alleged.
Telangana people wantto see the lotus (BJPs election symbol) bloom and that they have demonstrated it in the Lok Sabha polls, he said and urged the party activists to work towards it in the future assembly polls.
The BJP came up with a surprising performance, winning four out of the 17 Lok Sabha elections last year.
Praising Modi, he said the Prime Minister had not only led the country in the fight against COVID-19, but also shown the path to the world on tackling the pandemic.
He took the timely action of lockdown which saved lives and prepared the country for the fight against the virus, Nadda said.
Health facilities and infrastructure did not exist adequately earlier when the pandemic spread in the country, he said adding the situation has vastly improved now.
Giving numbers, he talked about how the facilities, including dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, beds, oxygen beds, testing capacity and personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, have improved in the country.
Nadda also highlighted the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiatives announced by the Modi government.