Patients with breathing complaints are assisted by a shared pipeline of Oxygen provided as langar at a Gurdwara in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad on Thursday. Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Matia Mahal, Shoaib Iqbal, has demanded President’s Rule in Delhi in the midst of the city’s raging battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Iqbal, who was with the Congress till month before the 2020 Assembly elections, said in a video message, “I am pained by Delhi’s condition. I am very worried, I can’t sleep. People are not getting oxygen and medicines. My friend is suffering. He is in hospital but is not getting oxygen or a ventilator. I have his prescription for remdesivir but where do I get it from? His children are running around… Today, I am ashamed of being an MLA because we are not being able to help. The government is not being able to help either. I am a six-time MLA, the senior most. But despite this, no one is responding, you can’t contact any nodal officer. In this situation I would like to request the Delhi High Court to impose President’s rule in Delhi otherwise there will be dead bodies on the road,” he said. Iqbal has represented the Matia Mahal constituency in the Delhi Assembly in various points since 1993.
Iqbal has previously been with the Congress, Lok Jan Shakti Party (JLP) and three avatars of the Janata Dal — Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular) and Janata Dal (United). AAP ended his winning streak from the seat in 2015. AAP has not responded to Iqbal’s comments so far.
Reacting to Iqbal’s statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said, “Iqbal is not just an AAP MLA, he is also the one with the most experience in the Delhi Assembly. If he is saying that the situation has gone out of control and people are suffering, and President’s rule should be imposed in the states, he is right. We also believe that Delhi should now be under the Centre’s control and there should be President’s rule as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not being able to manage the situation.”
Delhi Congress Vice-President Abhishek Dutt, meanwhile, said that the Army should take over Delhi and manage its health infrastructure to bring an end to the spread of Covid and related deaths in the city. He also alleged that the government had slowed down RT-PCR testing in the state and the figures of Covid deaths were not being reported correctly.
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