Congress demands health minister's resignation over handling of Covid-19 situation

The Congress alleged on Wednesday that Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has failed to manage the Covid-19 pandemic and demanded his dismissal.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to identify those who are responsible for the current situation and remove them from his government.

She also alleged that the Empowered Group of Ministers dealing with oxygen met after a year.

"If Jordan's health minister can resign over the death of six people, then at least you should have some moral compulsion Dr Harsh Vardhan, you should resign. If you do not have that, then your boss, Prime Minister Modi, must wake up and dismiss you," Shrinate told reporters.

"Kindly start identifying the useless people in your government and at least dismiss Health Minister Harsh Vardhan," she told the prime minister.

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Noting that Vardhan does not have the morality to resign, Shrinate said, "We demand that the health minister should be dismissed immediately."

She said this is the same health minister who had said the end game of the coronavirus had come and made fun of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi when he warned of the worsening situation.

"He (Vardhan) should apologise to the people of the country for the manner in which they are suffering," Shrinate said.

Noting that the pandemic is the biggest tragedy of our times, she said the government should not indulge in blame game and that trying to mask numbers would not help.

The Congress leader noted that many lives could have been saved if the management of the situation was better.

The government should not blame the states for the situation as the National Disaster Management Act is in force and the distribution of resources and vaccines is in the hands of the Centre, she said.

Taking on the health minister for his remarks that India is better placed in 2021 than in 2020 to handle Covid-19, the Congress leader said it is unfortunate that he is claiming so.

"Who is responsible for the current situation and this mismanagement?" she asked.

Shrinate also accused the Centre of misplaced priorities and asked on what grounds has it declared the Central Vista project essential. She said the kind of money that is being spent on the new Parliament building could have been utilised for ramping up health infrastructure at a time when people are seeking them desperately.