Chennai: Opposition leaders from across the country have hit out at the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the rising Covid-19 cases in India.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to Modi on Covid crisis, offering five suggestions to combat situation. Singh called for increased production of doses and requested the government to allocate requisite funds, concessions, and licenses to vaccine producers to facilitate that.
Manmohan said the letter, written as a follow-up to the Congress Working Committee meeting held on Saturday to discuss the Covid-19 situation, was in a spirit of constructive cooperation.
“There are many things we must do to fight the epidemic but a big part of this effort must be ramping up the vaccination programme,” Manmohan said in the letter.
He said the government should publicise the firm orders for doses placed on different vaccine producers and accepted for delivery over the next six months.
“If we want to vaccinate a target number in this period, we should place enough orders in advance so that producers can adhere to an agreed schedule of supply,” he said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation for mishandling of the Covid-19 second wave and alleged that the prime minister failed in planning to contain the rise in the number of infections.
Asserting that Modi did little to address the possible crisis in the supply of medical oxygen and vaccines in the five-six months when the virus had lost its sting before its resurgence this year, Banerjee accused Modi of exporting vaccines to other countries to boost his image in the international arena while there was a scarcity in his own nation.
Mamata demanded the resignation of Modi for mishandling of the Covid-19 second wave and failed to contain the number of infections.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Modi seeking enhanced supply of oxygen and beds for Covid-19 patients in the Capital.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to the Prime Minister asking for Covid-19 vaccines to be made available in the open market, and demanding more vaccine doses for the State.
DMK president MK Stalin and MPs from the party wrote a letter to Modi on Sunday, urging him to allocate more vaccines to Tamilnadu. He urged the Centre to send 20 lakh doses immediately.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has ‘thanked’ Modi for taking time off in his bid to capture power in West Bengal and spare time to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi functioned well as a star campaigner of the BJP and not as Prime Minister. He accords priority to electioneering than to contain the Covid-19 spread in the country.
VCK president Thol. Thirumavalavan on Sunday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi take moral responsibility for the loss of thousands of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic due to his ‘utterly inept handling of this public health crisis’, and resign immediately.