Opposition welcomes L-G’s order, slams Kejriwal for diverting attention from his govt’s failures

The opposition parties on Monday welcomed lieutenant-governor (L-G) Anil Baijal’s decision to overrule the state government’s order reserving hospital beds in the

The opposition parties on Monday welcomed lieutenant-governor (L-G) Anil Baijal’s decision to overrule the state government’s order reserving hospital beds in the national capital exclusively for Delhi residents and stopping the testing of asymptomatic contacts of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients.

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Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress said the government’s order was “legally untenable”. They said it was just a diversionary tactic by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to shift focus from his government’s alleged failure to augment healthcare infrastructure. The Aam Aadmi Party hit back, accusing the BJP of playing dirty politics and putting pressure on the L-G to pass such an order.

Welcoming the L-G’s decision, BJP MP from New Delhi Meenakshi Lekhi said, “India is a union of states. The Delhi government’s order was legally untenable, as it was in violation of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. How can any state deny a person from another state access to medical care?”

Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Lekhi said the decision had been taken by “someone who was born in Haryana, lived most parts of his life in Kaushambi (in Ghaziabad) and became the chief minister of Delhi”, in a veiled reference to Kejriwal’s antecedents.

Former Delhi MP Ajay Maken said, “The Delhi high court in 2018 had ruled against the government’s decision to reserve a certain number of beds in GTB hospital for Delhi residents only. Kejriwal can’t be oblivious to it. This was just an attempt to divert people’s attention from his government’s failure to augment the medical facility.”

East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir took to Twitter to welcome the L-G’s decision. He tweeted, “Excellent step by LG to overrule Delhi Govt’s idiotic order of not treating patients from other states! India is ONE and we have to fight this pandemic together! #IndiaFightsCorona (sic).”

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said the decision to stop testing of asymptomatic contacts of Covid-19 patients was against the Centre’s guidelines. “Testing is crucial right now to prevent the spread of the disease. But this government is arbitrarily taking decisions and putting people’s lives at risk,” he said.

Kejriwal on Monday placed himself in home quarantine after he felt unwell.

Lekhi came down heavily on AAP on the issue of discrepancy in data about hospital beds, according to the Delhi Corona app, launched by the Delhi government itself. She said the five Ts (testing, tracing, treatment, teamwork and tracking) that Kejriwal said were essential for fighting Covid-19 are missing today.

“Is this the time to mislead people? You are playing with the lives of people. These are human lives; they are not some lab rats or insects on which you can conduct experiments. This is the time to deliver,” the national BJP spokesperson said.

The Congress accused both the BJP and AAP of misleading people. “During such a crisis, the state and the Centre should ensure better coordination. But here, both are working in silos and are just misleading people,” Anil Chaudhary, Delhi Congress chief said.

Maken said, “Of the 16,500 plus beds in Central government and municipal hospitals only 1,500-odd are reserved for Covid-19. Similarly, the Delhi government is using just 13% of its bed capacity for Covid treatment. Why can’t the two use their own infrastructure optimally?”

The Delhi government had recently ordered that 20% of the total bed strength in private hospitals be reserved for Covid-19 patients. The BJP questioned why beds in other government hospitals are not reserved in a similar manner.

AAP reacts

The AAP accused the BJP of playing dirty politics by putting pressure on the L-G to pass an “unconstitutional order”.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted, “The BJP-ruled state governments are busy in PPE kit and ventilator scams. The Delhi government is trying to manage this disaster by making honest efforts and careful planning. But BJP is not liking it and has done dirty politics by putting pressure on the LG. (sic)”

AAP MLA and party’s national spokesperson Raghav Chadha tweeted, “BJP sponsored order issued by LG is draconian, unconstitutional & against spirit of democracy. How can LG,by merely writing a few paragraphs on his letter head,overrule the decision of a democratically elected govt’s cabinet. Moreover, this is an affront to the health of Delhiites. (sic)”