Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 11

A day after the Congress Working Committee hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over handling of the Covid crisis, BJP president JP Nadda today accused the opposition party of “misleading the people and creating false panic” amid the fight against the pandemic.

Writes 4-page rebuttal to Sonia

While there are a few members of your party doing commendable work in helping people, their hard work gets eclipsed by negativity spread by senior members. - JP Nadda, BJP Chief

Chavan to head Congress poll review panel

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday named former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan chairman of a five-member panel to review the party’s poor performance in recent state poll. Other members are former ministers Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari, ex-MoS Vincent Pala and MP Jothi Mani. TNS

Nadda said the conduct of certain Congress leaders, including former party president Rahul Gandhi, during the pandemic would be remembered for “duplicity and pettiness”. In his four-page letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Nadda accused her party’s leadership of trying to create vaccine hesitancy. The BJP president said the Modi government’s fight against the pandemic was driven by belief in science, support for innovation, trust in Covid warriors and cooperative federalism. “While there are a few members of your party doing commendable work in helping people, their hard work gets eclipsed by negativity spread by senior members of the party. One would wish that while India is fighting Covid-19 with utmost courage, the top Congress leaders would stop misleading people, creating false panic and even contradicting their stands just based on political considerations,” he wrote.

Citing high mortality rate in Congress-ruled states, including Punjab, he said, “There are other aspects that also need greater thought. For instance, the data from February and March would reveal which states failed to track the rising cases. Why are mortality rates in states such as Punjab so high? These are questions you must ask your own Chief Ministers.”

Nadda also hit back over the criticism of the BJP for holding big poll rallies while cases surged across the nation and the ongoing construction of the Central Vista project. He said the need for a new Parliament building was raised during the Congress-led UPA regime with the then Speaker Meira Kumar underscoring the need for it. “Yet, the Congress does not believe in facts. People are also contrasting the Congress’ stand on Central Vista with the Chhattisgarh Government going ahead to build a new Assembly complex,” he said.

Accusing the Congress of “ignoring” the Centre’s advisories on the second wave, he said it was doing no favours to itself by opposing lockdowns and then demanding it.

The Congress leaders, he said, held massive election rallies in Kerala causing a spike in cases, and were now “grandstanding” about poll rallies elsewhere.

The BJP leadership is in a damage-control mode over perceptions over the Centre’s handling of Covid crisis with leaders taking to newspaper columns to present the BJP-led government’s point of view on related issues.