Bihar poll win not endorsement of Modi govt’s handling of COVID-19: Yechury

New Delhi, November 12

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for linking the Bihar poll victory to his government’s handling of the pandemic and the economy, the CPI(M) Thursday said the NDA had managed to get only 0.03 per cent more votes than the Mahagathbandhan, of which the Left parties were a part.

In the recently concluded Bihar polls, the Left parties—CPI, CPIM and CPI(ML) -- bagged 16 of the 29 seats they fought.

“PM Modi has bombastically claimed an endorsement of his govt’s handling of the pandemic & the economy. In terms of the vote share between BJP & allies and Mahagathbandan is a mere 0.03%; 12,768 more votes out of 3.14 crore voters.

This is the truth,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.

Modi in his address at the BJP headquarters on Wednesday said that his government has undertaken several reforms and launched development as well as welfare initiatives for the people during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many big countries had also got bogged down by the virus spread.

He also said that the BJP’s model of “good governance” was visible during the pandemic and asserted that people’s vote for the party has shown their support to the measures taken by his government.

“Every single speech of Modi in Bihar was aimed at sharpening communal polarisation. No reference to the people’s miseries due to his pandemic mishandling & lockdown. Now claiming people’s endorsement! Deceitful propaganda & spin shall not work,” Yechury tweeted late Wednesday night.

Accusing the government of looting the country’s assets, Yechury blamed the policies of the BJP-led Centre for the present state of the economy.

The RBI has estimated that the economy will contract by 9.5 per cent for the full fiscal year.

“Now it is official. The continuous contraction of the GDP is destroying lives, livelihoods, pushing crores of our people into  poverty, hunger and deprivation.

Destruction of our economy by Modi’s policies is collosal.

“Stop looting national assets, amassing fortunes in PM’s private funds.

Substantially hike public investments, build infrastructure, generate jobs to boost domestic demand to kick-start economic revival,” he said. PTI