Govt Responsible for Coronavirus Crisis as it Delayed Action, Says Congress Leader Kamal Nath

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath came down heavily on the BJP government at the Centre on Sunday, accusing it of delaying action to combat the coronavirus pandemic for toppling his government in Madhya Pradesh.

He alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was responsible for the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak in the country as it allowed Parliament to function in order to ensure that the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was also in session and his government was toppled.

"It is obvious, Parliament was run only to ensure that the Madhya Pradesh Assembly could run and the Congress government be toppled," Nath told reporters at a press conference addressed through video-conferencing.

He said the BJP's ultimate aim was to topple his government, pointing out that the nationwide lockdown was announced a day after the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government of the saffron party was installed in Madhya Pradesh.

"Why did the Modi government wait till March 24 to declare the lockdown? It was eyeing to topple the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh since February and after a BJP chief minister took oath on March 23, the nationwide lockdown was announced the next day on March 24," Nath said.

Detailing the chronology of events, he said while there were only three COVID-19 cases in February, the government delayed the lockdown till March 24 and by then, the number of coronavirus cases had increased by 175 times to 536.

All countries were taking steps to check the spread of the virus, the Odisha and Chhattisgarh assemblies were adjourned, but when the Madhya Pradesh Assembly speaker adjourned the House till March 26, the BJP mocked at him, the Congress leader said.

He said his government had initiated steps by shutting educational institutions and shopping malls on March 12.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged that his was the only state in the world that did not have a health or home minister amid the crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak, adding that these posts were lying vacant even now, as the council of ministers in the state was yet to be formed.

This, Nath said was akin to "befooling" the people of Madhya Pradesh by the saffron party, as 45 health officials, including the principal secretary of the department, were infected with the coronavirus.

"Nowhere in the world has this happened," he added.

The veteran leader also took a swipe at the 22 Congress MLAs who resigned, saying they would have to answer to the people of the state at the time of the bypolls and wondered if the Chouhan government would continue to function as these lawmakers were likely to lose the electoral battle.

He said the situation in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak was "very serious" and the number of cases will rise if more testing was done. He said testing for the disease has so far been done on a small scale and only in urban areas.

Noting that the country is going to face a very serious economic crisis due to COVID-19, Nath said the Centre's economic package needs to be focussed and its success will lie in the execution and on which sectors it focusses on.

He alleged that those infected with the deadly virus in Madhya Pradesh had more faith in private hospitals and 90 per cent of them were being treated at these facilities as the health infrastructure was crumbling in the state.

"Most of the figures are emerging from urban areas. The more you test, the more number of positive cases there will be," the Congress leader said.

The former Union commerce minister said with the Centre's revenues and collections from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) falling, the country might have to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for relief.

"With the Centre's revenues hit so hard, with the GST collection falling, how will it deal with this? I see a situation, where India may have to go back to the IMF as we did in 1980," he said.

Replying to a question about the government's special economic package, he said its success depended on its execution.

"You can announce anything and everything, but how do you execute? The success of an economic package, good or bad, depends on its execution. The question is, where is the economic package focussed? Is it focused on restarting economic activity?" he asked.

The veteran Congress leader said with no economic activity during the lockdown, the economic package only covered past losses and problems.