'Where has Mamata gone?' asks BJP as Bengal battles COVID-19

The opposition BJP in West Bengal took shots at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, alleging she has "gone into hiding" even as her ministers are shouting hoarse to blame the Centre on issues relating to COVID-19 outbreak.

BJP national general secretary Rahul Sinha alleged Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha was also not seen in public even as the state was battling the unprecedented situation.

BJP's state president Dilip Ghosh claimed that the chief minister has "gone into hiding" even as her ministers are shouting themselves hoarse to blame the central government over several issues relating to the COVID-19 situation and the plight of migrant workers of the state stuck in other parts of the country.

He added that the railway ministry has arranged eight special trains for bringing back people of Bengal stranded in other states.

"Amid the coronavirus crisis in the state, where have the chief minister and the chief secretary gone? There is no communication or statement from either of them in this situation," Sinha alleged.

He said the chief minister and the chief secretary should take a firm grip over the government in the present crisis wherein hundreds of people have contracted the disease in the state and many have succumbed to the contagion.

West Bengal has 1,786 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with the death toll nearing 100, Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said on Saturday.