Gujarat govt inefficient in handling COVID-19 crisis, its healthcare system sick: Cong

The Congress on Sunday said the Gujarat government's "inefficiency" in handling the coronavirus crisis has rendered it "undermining, underconfident and underachieving", as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose rapidly.

"In Gujarat, today we don't have a health care system, we have a sick system," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

He quoted a Gujarat High Court judgement to target the BJP-ruled Gujarat which is also the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and said such words have never been used by the judiciary against the state authorities.

At a press conference through video conferencing, Singhvi also sought to know why the prime minister or the home minister did not intervene, chastise or punish the Gujarat government.

"We would respectfully ask the prime minister, home minister, the Government of India, chief minister of Gujarat and the government of Gujarat - Are they even aware of what is happening in their own home state?
"Why is the Government of Gujarat, close on the heels of the 'non-existent ventilator scam', selling N-95 masks admittedly at Rs 65 per mask as against the admitted procurement cost to it of Rs 49.61 per mask i.e. at a straight profit arbitrage of 31 per cent?"