COVID-19: Priyanka Gandhi calls PM Modi the 'pilot who pressed eject button during emergency'

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, describing him as the "pilot who had his photo plastered on boarding passes only to press the eject button during an emergency".

The Congress-led opposition has been criticising the government over its handling of the pandemic and the vaccination drive, while the Centre has maintained that its timely steps have been instrumental in fighting COVID-19.

"Shocking that while COVID ravages India, from being a vaccine exporter, it has been compelled to become a vaccine importer undoing 70 years of government effort," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted.

"@narendramodi: the pilot who had his photo plastered on boarding passes only to press the eject button during an emergency," the Congress general secretary said in another tweet.

Shocking that while COVID ravages India, from being a vaccine exporter, it has been compelled to become a vaccine importer undoing 70 years of govt effort.@narendramodi : the pilot who had his photo plastered on boarding passes only to press the eject button during an emergency

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 17, 2021

There was no immediate reaction from BJP leaders.

Priyanka Gandhi also stressed the importance of RT-PCR testing to combat COVID-19 spread in Uttar Pradesh.

"In UP, infection has increased seven times in 10 days. Now, it is also moving towards villages. There is a terrible shortage of tests in cities and RT-PCR is less than half of them while the rest are antigen. One has to wait for testing in Lucknow, Noida, Ghaziabad, Benaras, Allahabad also.

If the state is to be saved, do maximum RT-PCR testing," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi's attack on the government came amid a steep rise in coronavirus cases in the country with over two lakh new infections daily in the last three days.