Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Wednesday used his Mumbai press conference platform to attack the Centre over its handling of the COVID-19 situation in the country. Patole then made an absurd remark that the Supreme Court should form a parallel Central government to tackle the crisis. He further said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre has failed to protect the country from the pandemic.

According to a report by Republic World:

“The Supreme Court should not only form a task force for COVID management but also form a parallel National Government as the Modi-led BJP government has failed to protect the country from the pandemic,” he said.

The Congress leader further pointed out that there is a provision in Constitution for this. He also hit out at the Centre for prioritising the Central Vista project over the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

“BJP chief JP Nadda spoke against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I would like to ask till when they will only target the Gandhi family and do politics’ They are undertaking over Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project but not giving necessary funds for vaccination,” he added.

On Tuesday, BJP chief JP Nadda accused Congress of weakening the fight against COVID-19, in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Maintaining that PM Modi is working closely with all CMs to defeat the novel coronavirus, he claimed that the top echelons of the Congress party including Chief Ministers were misleading people, creating false panic and contradicting their previous stances based on political consideration.

The SC on May 8 set up a 12-member National Task Force constituted of top medical experts to form a method for distribution of medical oxygen to states and Union territories in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic. A bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, constituted a panel to assess and recommend the need and distribution of oxygen in the country.

While the Maharashtra Congress Chief targeted the Centre, he seems to have conveniently swept the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s, of which Congress is a part, failures under the carpet. It must be mentioned that Maharashtra along with other Congress-ruled states is among the worst-performing ones.

Maharashtra government has been concentrating its energies on every area except the pandemic situation. Not only has the MVA government allocated INR 900 crores for MLA residences but is also spending a whopping INR 6 crores to ‘handle’ deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s social media accounts.

At a time when it should have paid attention to the downward spiralling pandemic situation, it was busy in image building exercises using a Bollywood PR firm. Even as the Congress coalition MVA government has miserably failed in its pandemic management, Patole was attacking the Centre for the same.

The MVA government was pulled up by the Bombay High Court over its covid management. A report by India Today in this regard says:

During the hearing of the plea related to Covid-19 management in Maharashtra, Bombay High Court today asked the state authorities to issue directions to district collectors to manage the situation more effectively.

“We want the state government to issue some directions to the collectors in the rural areas. There is nothing on record for those areas. There were interviews with the patients and their relatives. That interview was sort of an eye-opener,” the bench went on to say.

While ordering the administration to look at the gravity of the situation, the court further added, “You must cut the pandemic at the threshold. In cities, these issues can be managed, treatments can be given, but not the case with rural areas. Your priority should be villages now. In the first wave, villages were not affected, now they are.”

Earlier the court had come down heavily on the MVA government for its failure in procuring and allocating oxygen, remdesivir and other medical essentials. While on the one hand, the Maharashtra government of which Congress is a part has failed miserable, on the other, the Maharashtra Congress chief goes on to attack the Centre over the latter’s ‘handling’ of the pandemic situation. Much irony there. Patole should probably spare some word of advice for Maharashtra CM Thackeray as well.

(Featured Image Source: Republic TV)