Lockdown delayed to topple Madhya Pradesh government: Kamal Nath

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Sunday trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of delaying the nationwide lockdown to fight the COVID-19 only to topple his government in Madhya Pradesh.

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Kamal Nath, who lost his chief minister’s post last month after a rebellion in the Congress, claimed former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had sounded the alarm bells on the COVID-19 crisis way back in February but the Modi government chose not to act on it.

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"Rahul ji had on February 12 drawn the attention of the government to the threat posed by coronavirus. However, the Centre delayed action because it was more interested in toppling the government in Madhya Pradesh,” he said addressing the media through a video link.

He said Parliament continued to function despite several state assemblies having adjourned in view of the spread of COVID-19. This was done to make the case for the functioning of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, which was adjourned for 10 days by the Speaker citing the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kamal Nath also accused Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of mishandling the COVID-19 situation in the state by not having a dedicated health minister to deal with the fast unravelling situation in the state.

“Madhya Pradesh is the only state which has no health minister and no home minister...Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as chief minister on March 23. The situation with regard to COVID-19 is so serious, there is no cabinet. It is akin to making a joke of the people,” he said.

Senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha has written to President Ram Nath Kovind to impose President’s Rule in Madhya Pradesh on the grounds of the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state as the chief minister has been unable to constitute his council of ministers.

Kamal Nath, a former Union Commerce Minister, said the country was facing an economic crisis and with the Centre's revenues and collections from goods and services tax (GST) falling, India may well have to approach the International Monetary Fund.

“I see a situation where India may have to go back to the IMF as we did in 1980. When we took an IMF loan at that time there were such conflicting views,” he said.