BJP's power lust put 130 crore Indians at stake: MP Congress alleges delay in lockdown

Madhya Pradesh Congress on Friday hit out at the Centre for "delaying lockdown" in view of the coronavirus outbreak, claiming that the BJP has put lives of 130 crore people in the country at stake as it was busy in toppling and forming the government in the state.

Taking to Twitter, the MP Congress took a pot shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who declared 21-day lockdown in the country, stating that it was not his 'fault' as BJP had a program of toppling former Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh and forming Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government.

"It is not much of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fault. If BJP did not have a program of toppling and forming a government in MP, then lockdown and curfew could have been imposed already. The BJP's lust of power has put lives of 130 crore people in the country at stake," the Congress MP tweeted in Hindi.

It further stated that Madhya Pradesh is the grip of coronavirus epidemic and targetted Chouhan government over 'no cabinet' and 'no concrete planning' to tackle the unprecedented situation arising out of coronavirus outbreak.

"MP is in the grip of corona epidemic. And in MP: There is no cabinet, there is no cabinet committee, neither the Minister of Health, there is no concrete planning, Shivraj doesn't trust collectors, neither the government will last long," the state unit of Congress said in another tweet.

Chouhan on March 23 took oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh at the Raj Bhavan here.Ahead of the ceremony, Chouhan appealed to the party workers not to celebrate the oath-taking ceremony in the wake of coronavirus. He earlier served as the state's Chief Minister between 2003 and 2018.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had earlier on Thursday reported 88 new COVID-19 cases, which is the highest in a single day, taking the total countrywide tally to 694. Kamal Nath on March 20 tendered his resignation to Governor Lalji Tandon as the Chief Minister following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs.