Supreme Court should form parallel govt as Centre failed to tackle COVID: Congress' Patole

Launching a scathing attack on the Centre’s handling of the COVID-19 situation, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court should form a parallel government to tackle the crisis. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Patole alleged that the Modi government has failed to protect the country from the pandemic.

"The Supreme Court should not only form a task force for COVID management but also form a parallel National Government as the Modi-led BJP government has failed to protect the country from the pandemic," he said.

The Congress leader further pointed out that there is a provision in Constitution for this. He also hit out at the Centre for prioritising the Central Vista project over the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

"BJP chief JP Nadda spoke against Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I would like to ask till when they will only target the Gandhi family and do politics? They are undertaking over Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista project but not giving necessary funds for vaccination," he added.

On Tuesday, BJP chief JP Nadda accused Congress of weakening the fight against COVID-19, in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Maintaining that PM Modi is working closely with all CMs to defeat the novel coronavirus, he claimed that the top echelons of the Congress party including Chief Ministers were misleading people, creating false panic and contradicting their previous stances based on political consideration.

The SC on May 8 set up a 12-member National Task Force constituted of top medical experts to form a method for distribution of medical oxygen to states and Union territories in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic. A bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, constituted a panel to assess and recommend the need and distribution of oxygen in the country.

India's COVID-19 situation

Even as India continues to fight the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a slight ray of hope still persists as some positive developments have emerged in the last 24 hours. These developments mainly include a decrease in the number of Coronavirus cases across the country. In addition, overall vaccination rates in the country have also increased along with the approval of other essential drugs and medicines. 

India reported 3,48,421 novel Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday. In addition, 3,55,338 people recuperated from the infection taking the total number of recoveries to 1,93,82,642. With 4205 fresh fatalities, the country's death toll stands at 2,54,197. Currently, the active cases in the country stand at 37,04,099. 

(With inputs from agency)