Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over shortage of oxygen amid surging Covid-19 cases, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that instead of telling his ‘Mann Ki Baat’, he should speak on the scarcity of oxygen for Covid-19 patients.
“The country is suffering from a shortage of oxygen and he is holding ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Who wants to listen to his ‘Mann Ki Baat’? You (Modi) should speak on Covid-19 and oxygen supply,” said Mamata. She was virtually addressing a meeting of TMC workers at Baharampur in Murshidabad district.
She alleged that in his desperation to capture power in Bengal, the prime minister was working against the interests of the state. The Trinamool Congress supremo also asked why Modi was providing meagre quantities of vaccines and medicines to the state if he claims to love Bengal.
"Why can’t he show his love for Bengal and provide more medicines?” asked Mamata.
Taking potshots at the PM over the difference in the price of Covid-19 vaccines at which the Centre and the state governments will procure it from manufacturers, Mamata asked why the Centre was set to buy vaccines at Rs 100, the state governments at Rs 400 and private hospitals at Rs 600 when Modi speaks of 'one leader, one nation'.
The Chief Minister said that the “entry of thousands of outsiders” in Bengal was the main reason behind the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state. “In such a situation, Modi just gave speeches and then ran away. It would not have been like this if there was large scale vaccination in the last six months. But that did not happen as Modi gave vaccines to 80 countries,” said Mamata.
Mamata said that that holding the Assembly elections in West Bengal in eight phases was a “planned decision” so that the polls could be rigged differently in each phase.
Published 25 April 2021, 13:14 IST