Karnataka: Should we hang ourselves over drug crisis, says DV Sadananda Gowda

BENGALURU: Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda and BJP national general secretary CT Ravi on Thursday took strong objection to criticism by Karnataka HC judges for the alleged poor handling of the Covid-19 situation in the state.
“The court has, with good intention, said everyone in the country should get vaccinated. I want to ask you, ‘If the court says tomorrow that you have to give this much (of vaccine) and if it has not been produced yet, should we hang ourselves?’,” Gowda told reporters here.
DVS: I tried to highlight practical difficulty over supply
The high court on Thursday made sharp observations against the state’s failure to ensure vaccines to different age groups and asked it to say whether it can handle the situation. Earlier in the week, the high court had taken the government to task over deaths of Covid patients due to paucity of oxygen and non-availability of hospital beds.
BJP national general secretary CT Ravi, who was present with Gowda at the press conference, said: “The Judges are not Sarvajnas (the one who knows all). They, too, have their own limitations.”
Controversial remarks by Ravi and the Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court and Karnataka high court attacking the Centre and state government for their failure to ensure smooth vaccination drive and provide medical aids such as oxygen and lifesaving drugs like Remdesivir Referring to the report of the three-member panel appointed by the high court that the toll due to lack of oxygen at the Chamarajanagar district hospital on the intervening night of May 2 and 3 could be higher than 24, Ravi said, “If proper arrangements were not made well in advance, there would have been fatalities 10 times or 100 times more.”
He said oxygen supply has been increased from 300 metric tonnes to 1,500 tonnes due to systematic preparation. “Our preparations failed due to the unimaginable Covid spread,” he added.
Their statements evoked sharp reactions from opposition parties. KPCC chief DK Shivakumar tweeted: “BJP leader CT Ravi’s statement against judges saying they are not ‘Sarvajna’ is condemnable. Trying to cast aspersions on judges, when they are upholding the rights of citizens, is one of the reasons why our country is witnessing such devastation.”
Gowda and Ravi justified their statements. “I tried to highlight the practical difficulty. It is obvious that one cannot supply medicine when it is not available. The demand for vaccines is so high that we can meet it since the available stock is too little,” Gowda told TOI. Ravi added: “I stand by my statement. No one in the world can claim he knows everything, and the judges are no exception. Judges are not Sarvajnas.”