Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal concerned about kids, Centre diplomatic image: Manish Sisodia

NEW DELHI: Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that the tweet by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urging the Centre to cancel air services with Singapore was a result of concern for children and the need to be careful but the central government was only concerned about its diplomatic image in Singapore. The CM’s tweet had drawn criticism from the Centre.
“CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday pointed out that the third wave of Covid-19 might unravel on young children and alerted the central government against this. However, instead of preparing or taking any action against this important news, the Centre has shown condemnable behaviour by playing dirty politics of blame and lies,” Sisodia said addressing a digital press conference.
“He rightly notified two facts to the public, first on the development of a new strain in Singapore and, second, on how this strain might affect children and how we need to be careful,” the deputy CM said. “The Centre, instead of showing any concern towards the danger our children might be in, gave more attention to building its diplomatic image in Singapore.”
“The new form of corona that has come to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India, it may come as a third wave,” Kejriwal had tweeted on Tuesday and urged the Centre that air services with Singapore be cancelled with immediate effect and options for vaccinating children prioritised.
“Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to Delhi CM’s tweet on "Singapore variant". High Commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy,” Arindam Bagchi, official spokesperson, ministry of external affairs, tweeted on Wednesday morning.
Quoting the statement, external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar mentioned in a tweet that "Singapore and India have been solid partners in the fight against Covid-19" and that "Delhi CM does not speak for India."
“The unabated ridicule by BJP of CM Arvind Kejriwal only indicates that BJP and the central government are more worried about Singapore and how Singapore views us, instead of worrying about how this new strain in Singapore may adversely affect our children, if it is brought to India,” Sisodia said. He said that Indian doctors and scientists were warning the nation against the new strain.
When asked about the statement by the CM, Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain said that there was a ‘different strain’ of coronavirus spreading in Singapore.
“There are many strains of coronavirus in India at present. Their presence is ascertained through genome sequencing. It is a different strain indeed. Whether it is from Singapore, Delhi, America or London, what’s important is that the strains are different,” Jain said. “It is wrong to say it is not a different variant. The picture will be clear in some time,” he told reporters.