Asserting that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been taking stringent measures to contain COVID-19 in the State, Minister for Municipal Administration Botcha Satyanarayana has said TDP leaders Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh are creating tension and confusion among the public for their political interests.
Speaking to the media at the party central office here on Monday, the Minister said the State government has laid special focus on bed availability, oxygen and medicines and taking measures to ensure 50,000 beds are available across the State. The government, through the 104 call centre, has been providing beds to the required patients within two hours. A state command control centre has been set up and higher officials are alert and monitoring the situation closely, he said.
While the State government has been running from pillar to post to fight the pandemic, Mr. Naidu and the ‘yellow media’ are propagating falsehood to create unrest in the State. While the employees have been striving hard in the fight against the pandemic, the comments of Mr. Naidu and Mr. Lokesh are damaging the their confidence, the Minister said.
The officials became alert following the oxygen supply issue in a hospital in Vizianagaram and saved lives with great effort, he said, and slammed Mr. Naidu for not praising the doctors for their efforts and, instead, criticising the government over the issue. He said the government would welcome any reasonable suggestions from the Opposition and accused Mr. Naidu of not giving even one responsible suggestion to the government.
The Minister criticised Mr. Lokesh for demanding cancellation or postponement of Class 10 and Intermediate exams. He said the State government had taken the decision to conduct the exams to save the future of the students. How could the students compete for national-level institutions without writing the board exams, he said.
Why didn’t Mr. Naidu and Mr. Lokesh comment or react when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said lockdown was the last option, he said.