Mamata trying to shift blame on Centre to hide her own failures: BJP

Kolkata, May 12 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her comments that the lockdown was "poorly planned" and said she is trying to shift the blame on the Central government in order to "hide her own failures".

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said in order to "escape from the COVID mess that the chief minister herself has created, the health secretary was made the scapegoat. She has a habit of blaming the Centre for everything. This time too there is no difference."

Ghosh claimed that the situation in Bengal would have been much better today had she followed and imposed the lockdown in a better way. His comments come in the backdrop of Banerjee on Monday terming the lockdown as "poorly planned" during a video conferencing the Prime Minister had with the chief ministers of all states.

Ghosh claimed the removal of the health secretary proves that there was "something seriously wrong with the state's handling of the pandemic".

"Earlier when questions were raised over the PDS system, the state had removed its food secretary, now when questions are being raised over the handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the health secretary has been shunted. This proves that the allegations were correct and the state government is now trying to clean the mess by using scapegoats," he said.

"All the decisions are taken after a nod by the chief minister, then how can she deny her responsibility?" Ghosh asked.

Amid raging controversy over alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis, Banerjee on Tuesday cracked the whip on Health Secretary Vivek Kumar by transferring him from the post, prompting the opposition to claim the removal only proves "something was seriously wrong".

The state BJP president demanded that the state government should preserve the ashes of Hindu patients who died of COVID, so that their family members can conduct the last rites with the ashes.