Pointing to the explosive Covid situation in the national capital, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over their petty politics on the pandemic.Captain Amarinder termed as ‘irresponsible’ the AAP campaign to spread negative propaganda against the Punjab government over the latter’s handling of the Covid situation. In his fourth round of virtual meeting with Congress MLAs to discuss the Covid crisis in the state, the Chief Minister said India is facing a war-like situation, just as the world is, and a united fight alone could tackle the problem. But AAP was busy indulging in petty politics amidst the crisis, he said.Noting that the Congress was helping governments in all states in tackling the pandemic, even where it was not in power, Captain Amarinder said he was also ready to help any state that asks for it, be it Delhi, Himachal Pradesh or Haryana. That is the only way to fight the crisis, he added. “If tomorrow Delhi needs my help I will willingly offer it,” he said.Contrary to what AAP was projecting, the fact was that Delhi’s situation was much worse than Punjab, said the Chief Minister. With 2.90 crore population, Punjab has 18000 active cases, while Delhi with 1.80 crore has 25000 plus active cases.
Even Haryana has lesser population than Punjab but an equal number of active cases, he noted.To encourage poor people to come out for testing, Captain Amarinder said his government had already started distributing free food packets to those in isolation and with no source of livelihood in this situation. He asked the MLAs to work with the district administration to ensure that the food packets reach the needy so that the poor do not hold back from getting themselves tested for fear of being left without livelihood during isolation.Most of the MLAs agreed that the negative propaganda by Opposition parties, who were also blatantly violating norms to engage in political activities, was impacting their efforts to motivate the people into early testing. Social distancing was also not being followed despite all their efforts, they said.The legislators also complained of private hospitals making a killing out of the Covid crisis by overcharging patients despite the cap imposed by the state government.Among the MLAs who participated in today’s virtual meeting were Gurpreet Singh GP (Bassi Pathana), Kuljeet Singh Nagra (Fatehgarh Sahib), Parminder Singh Pinki (Ferozepur City), Davinder Singh Ghubaya (Fazilka), Nathu Ram (Balluana), Harjot Kamal (Moga), Raminder Awla (Jalalabad), Davinder Singh Ghubaya (Fazilka), Pargat Singh (Jalandhar Cantt) and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon (Faridkot).