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Junior foreign minister mocks Kerala CM’s conditions for evacuation of expats
V Muraleedharan said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s conditions for the evacuation of expatriates were without any logic or reasoning.
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday mocked Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan saying some of his suggestions on evacuation of expatriates from the West Asian countries were without any logic and MEA cannot chalk out a separate plan for those countries.
“Usually people take pickle and chips while returning from Kerala. The CM thinks that test kits can be sent like this. His demands are without any logic or reasoning. We will go by the standard operating protocols issued by the Home and Health ministries,” he said in New Delhi.
Last week the CM had suggested that the state was ready to provide TrueNat testing kits to get expatriates tested before boarding their flights. TrueNat test is usually used to detect tuberculosis and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had recently recommended this also for widening the range of options for testing Covid-19 patients. The CM had also said special flights could be arranged for Covid-19 positive passengers.
“The CM is coming out with weird demands. No other state has put such conditions before the Centre. We are committed to bring back stranded people. But the state is putting many conditions to delay the process,” he said.
Muraleedharan, who also hails from Kerala criticised Vijayan for “terming returnees from the middle-east as super spreaders” of Covid-19
When asked about this, the CM evaded a direct reply saying the junior minister in the MEA has no idea what was happening at the Centre that is why he was raising frequent charges against the state government. He said experts have warned a big surge in cases by August- end and asked people not to lower their guard.
Vijayan and Muraleedharan had locked horns on several occasions over the evacuation of expatriates.
Muraleedharan had said the state was delaying evacuation by putting “unreasonable conditions” but the state blamed the Centre for the delay.
Meanwhile, Kerala recorded 123 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday. It was the seventh consecutive day Kerala reported more than 100 cases. The state’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 3,726. Out of these, 1761 are active cases while 1,941 people have recovered. The state has reported 23 deaths.
