Siddaramaiah smells a rat in Covid data, Sudhakar denies

BENGALURU: The State Government and Opposition Congress indulged in a political slugfest over the number of Covid-19 deaths and the government’s alleged attempts to hide facts.Launching a broadside against the government, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said, “According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Covid deaths till December 2020 are 12,090. But the Planning and Statistical Department data shows it as 22,320. What is true,” he asked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar. 

He demanded that the government release a white paper on Covid infections, deaths, treatment details and compensation paid. “Covid can be won through treatment, and not lies. They have not just lied about deaths, but also about medicines, masks, sanitisers, PPE kits and other procurement,” he said. 

Sudhakar hit back at Siddaramaiah, saying the government has no intention of hiding the numbers. “It is also not possible to hide or fudge data. All the facts about testing, new cases, recoveries and deaths are collected from districts and compiled in the daily bulletin published by the Health Department. Siddaramaiah is the Opposition leader and he is free to get information from districts and verify it,” he said. He said those in responsible positions should not make such allegations for political gains.

“It is an insult to Covid warriors,” he added. On the number of deaths mentioned by Siddaramaiah, Sudhakar said  the figures are provisional entries in e-Janma software which are subject to reconciliation as per the guidelines issued by the Registrar General of India. The Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths, Karnataka, too, took to Twitter to back Sudhakar, “The verification is near complete and the final figures will be released with the approval of RGI,” he said.