Kejriwal must resign if he can't handle COVID-19 crisis: BJP

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said the CM Kejriwal must resign if he cannot handle the spread of COVID-19 in the state. Earlier, the Supreme Court had reprimanded the Delhi government for the 'poor' treatment of coronavirus patients and for not handling the dead bodies with dignity.

New Delhi:Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi BJP demands the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for inept handling of the public health crisis.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said that situation is very tense and the rate at which coronavirus cases are increasing in Delhi the government will have to control the spread soon and if the Chief Minister is unable to work in this direction then he doesn't have the right to hold this position.

"If he (Kejriwal) cannot handle the crisis then he must resign," Adesh Gupta said.

On Supreme Court's criticism of Delhi government's handling of dead bodies of Covid-19 patients, Gupta said, "The mismanagement at hospitals and the visuals coming out from these health facilities put humanity to shame. These are heart-wrenching images."

"The CM himself is running the government while sitting in an AC room. They are not working on the ground. Patients are not getting beds in the hospital. The observations made by the Supreme Court reveals the gravity of the situation and is representative of the insensitivity with which the Delhi government is dealing with the situation," he added.

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The Municipal Corporation of Delhi had also questioned the official death figures of the Delhi Government and said 2,098 people have died of the contagious virus and not 984, as has been claimed by the government in the period between March and 10 June.

The apex court on Friday termed as "horrific" the state of affairs in Delhi hospitals with bodies being stacked next to COVID-19 patients and sought responses from the Centre and different states taking suo motu (on its own) cognisance on the treatment being meted out to patients and the handling of the bodies.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah also questioned Delhi government for conducting fewer COVID tests and asked why testing had gone down from 7,000 to 5,000 a day.

The nationwide COVID-19 tally reportedly crossed the 3-lakh mark on Friday with a record number of over 10,000 new cases getting detected across states and union territories.