Tejashwi Yadav slams Nitish for changing 'ship's captain' amid COVID-19 war
Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, has slammed the Nitish Kumar government for ‘miserably’ failing to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and the migrant workers crisis in the state.
In an interview to The Print on Friday (May 22), Yadav said that the government has basic responsibilities, involving providing health treatment, allotting quarantine centres and bringing the migrant labourers back home. But, not even one of these priorities were managed properly.
Bihar govt’s casual approach towards our repeated requests, regarding ??????? wil hv catastrophic results.
From 1st-21st May, ??????? remains a meager 1510/day while daily rise in cases (last 10 days) is 95. ??????? can only flatten the curve.???? ??!
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) May 21, 2020
Yadav alleged that the migrant workers have returned after months of struggle, but are now being exposed to COVID-19 risks. At the transit centres, there are no social distancing norms in place. The condition of the quarantine centres is getting worse on a daily basis as the government is not able to manage the influx of people.
He added that migrant workers are not provided with basic facilities such as food and clean water. Since Nitish Kumar came to power in the state, nothing has been to develop Bihar’s health infrastructure, Yadav said.
In 2015, Nitish Kumar had formed the government in alliance with the Congress and RJD. Tejashwi Yadav was the deputy CM however the alliance broke within a few months and Kumar went back to BJP for retaining the chief ministerial chair.
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During the interview, Yadav criticized the Nitish Kumar government for transferring IAS officer Sanjay Kumar, who was primarily handling the COVID-19 crisis in the state. Earlier this week, he was transferred from the principal health secretary to the tourism department. He said that the captain of the ship was replaced in the middle of the war, at a time when Bihar is witnessing a surge in the COVID-19 cases. For this move, he accused the government of mismanagement and lack of transparency.
