All parties welcome lockdown, opposition says should’ve imposed earlier

PATNA: The ruling and opposition parties were on the same page as the state government imposed an 11-day complete lockdown in Bihar effective Wednesday to break the chain of the coronavirus transmission. The opposition also maintained that it had been demanding a lockdown for the past fortnight to prevent the loss of lives.
An hour after the state government announced the lockdown on Tuesday, the leader of the opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, tweeted his reaction. "For the past 15 days, the opposition had been demanding the imposition of lockdown, but the ‘chhote saheb' (read CM Nitish Kumar)’ was obeying the orders from ‘bade saheb' (read PM Narendra Modi) that no lockdown be imposed before May 2 (the counting day for assembly polls)," he posted.
Tejashwi also described the state government’s delayed response to breaking the coronavirus chain as a "low grade ‘nautanki’ show and a sham," since the pandemic had already reached villages.
BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said he was flabbergasted that Tejashwi dragged in PM Modi and described his statement as an example of "petty politics".
"The statement of the leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, made after the lockdown was imposed, shows his negativity and cynicism. Tejashwi is not making any logical suggestions but spitting venom against the government to provoke people," Anand said.
Like Tejashwi, the state Congress acting president Kaukab Quadri too welcomed the lockdown and added that it had been imposed in the light of the Patna High Court’s stand on the matter, its imposition had become "necessary".
Quadri demanded that the government release a daily bulletin on the situation wrought by Covid-19, which will help all concerned, including social workers, to make a proper assessment of the situation to carry out their activities to help the needy.
Similarly, CPI(ML) state secretary Kunal and other senior functionaries, welcomed the lockdown and made a 10-point demand, including the issuance of passes to its workers, who are engaged in helping the needy and providing assistance at the hospitals.
The ruling NDA camp, deputy CM Tar Kishore Prasad and other ministers welcomed the complete 11-day lockdown. Prasad sought the cooperation of the people and requested that they obey the lockdown rules to help the government in its fight against Corona.
There was also a difference of opinion on the issue of the lockdown in the NDA camp, as the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) spokesman Danish Rizwan maintained that the government imposed the lockdown only after seeing the pressing stance of the Patna High Court on the matter. "If the lockdown has now been imposed, the government should also ensure that daily wage workers and poorer sections of society can earn their livelihood, and still others don’t face difficulties," Rizwan said.
The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which stands on the fringe of the NDA and continues to be critical of Nitish, echoed the opposition. "If it was imposed some days ago a lot of lives could have been saved. Honourable Nitish Ji delayed in imposing the lockdown," the Chirag Paswan-led party said.