UP CM Adityanath fudging coronavirus numbers, 'tower of corpses' in UP: State Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu on Tuesday trashed the state government's claims on managing the coronavirus pandemic and accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of fudging statistics.

While accusing the BJP government of laxity, the opposition leader said a tower of corpses has risen in the state.

Lallu's statement came hours after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Lucknow, where he praised Adityanath's handling of the COVID-19 crisis and claimed that the World Health Organization too had done so.

"Can't the defence minister, who is praising the chief minister indulging in fudging the statistics, see the flames from the funeral pyres in his parliamentary constituency of Lucknow and other parts of the state," the Congress leader said.

"Can he not see the deaths caused by the shortage of oxygen and the shortage of medicines," he said, adding that Singh showed a lack of sensitivity by praising the chief minister.

Lallu claimed that the ground reality is that there are "no vaccines, no oxygen, no medicines" in the state. "Due to the laxity of the government, there is a 'minar' (tower) of corpses, and it is getting praise," he said.

He accused the state government of being "shameless" and "disgracing humanity".

Earlier, Rajnath Singh had claimed that the World Health Organization has praised the Uttar Pradesh government's work. It is not a small thing," he said.

In a tweet on Monday, the WHO said, "In #India''s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, the state gov. has initiated house-to-house active case finding of #COVID19 in rural areas to contain transmission by testing people with symptoms for rapid isolation, disease management & contact tracing."

The WHO has been working with the state government in these activities, the organisation's tweets indicate.

State Medical Education Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna dubbed Lallu's statement as "irresponsible .

"Congress leaders sometimes spread confusion about the vaccine and other times they question the government's testing campaign in villages," he said, adding that "the public is getting confused due to irresponsible statements of Congress leaders .

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the state government is yet to accept the magnitude of the situation.

"The way coronavirus has affected Uttar Pradesh villages is worrying. The lives of people are at risk due to lack of medicines, oxygen and treatment. The BJP government is still not accepting the magnitude of the situation, Akhilesh said in a tweet in Hindi.

He said the truth about deaths cannot be hidden through lies of the BJP government.

In a separate tweet tagging a video, he said, "The condition of hospitals in Gorakhpur is extremely pathetic."

The BJP government, which is indulging in false propaganda of its success, has become a burden, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

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