Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday demanded that the YSRCP Government give up its adamant attitude and hold an all-party meeting to take opinions of all Opposition parties to strengthen the fight against Coronavirus epidemic. The ruling party leaders were needlessly attributing motives to the TDP, BJP, Jana Sena and Left leaders instead of taking their advice to take forward the struggle against the killer virus. Naidu asked why AP CM would not talk to Opposition leaders when Prime Minister Modi himself had spoken to former Presidents, former Prime Ministers, floor leaders and all political parties to discuss the COVID-19 threat. Instead of taking the rival parties along with it, the YSRCP was indulging in political mud-slinging against every leader including BJP State President Kanna Lakshminarayana, Jana Sena President Pawan Kalyan and others. People were observing whether the ruling party or Opposition were politicising even virus preventive measures.
Naidu asserted that history would not forgive if he would not speak out and bring pressure on the government to initiate effective anti-infection measures by giving micro-level focus on hotspots in district-wise red zones. The CM should explain why he neglected rival parties’ advice and made paracetamol comments that had now pushed Andhra Pradesh into a dangerous virus threat. The government’s negligence in not giving protection equipment to the field level staff caused the death of an ASI in Anantapur district.
The AP Opposition Leader blamed CM Jagan’s adamant attitude for what he described as his MLAs’ irresponsible behaviour in freely violating lockdown restrictions. Had the CM restrained his MLA, the Srikalahasti incident would not have led to 13 government staff contracting the virus. The local MLA held a huge rally to thank donors for their contributions to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, which now caused a virus cluster there. Had the CM restrained his Guntur MLA in the beginning, nearly 100 people would not have got infected from a Delhi returnee.
Stating that lockdown-2 had worsened the situation, Mr. Naidu appealed to the AP government to announce an immediate financial assistance of Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000 to the poor families. In addition to this, essential commodities should be delivered to the doorsteps like in Kerala where they were giving 19 items enough for two months. Even though AP has a big network of grama and ward volunteers, it is not making door delivery of essentials.
Naidu cautioned the CM and YSRCP leaders against making light of virus cases, saying that even though only 15 per cent +ve cases would require hospitalisation, the state would have no facilities required to treat them. It is not correct to leave everything in the hands of private hospitals by invoking ESMA. In Telangana, they have converted Gachibowli stadium into a 1,200-bed hospital for Coronavirus patients.
