Uproar in House: AAP, BJP MLAs spar to take credit for handling pandemic

new delhi: Seeking credit for the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, members of the ruling AAP and opposition BJP crossed swords in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the pandemic could not have been controlled by a single government and lauded doctors and scientists for treating patients and developing vaccines against the virus.

"It was truly a difficult time for all, during which the citizens, various organisations, the prime minister, the home minister and the Union government collaborated on a high scale. The epidemic could not have been controlled by a single government or individual," he said.

However, the most important work was done by the doctors and other frontline workers, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo pointed out.

"We politicians can commend ourselves as much as we want, but neither the prime minister nor Kejriwal went to the hospitals to treat the patients. It was done by the doctors," he said.

Speaking before the chief Minister, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said it was "sad and unfortunate" that the Delhi government failed to appreciate the contribution of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in the LG's address to the House.

Starting the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the LG's address, minister Gopal Rai said the coronavirus arrived in the country through passengers from abroad, and appreciated the chief minister and the health minister for the arrangements to deal with the situation.

BJP MLA Anil Bajpai claimed that the Centre provided foodgrains to the Delhi government for distribution among people during the pandemic, while alleging that the AAP government provided "rotten" foodgrains to the people.

The AAP MLAs praised Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, saying the model of COVID-19 management adopted by the city government is being talked about the world over.

Meanwhile, Seelampur MLA Abdul Rehman (AAP) seeking "punishment for the ones who jailed innocent local youth from a particular community in riots-related cases. Rehman added that the Delhi Police had acted in a "dual manner" while making arrests to pressurise a particular community.

Mustafabad MLA Haji Yunus (AAP) also spoke on the riots and sought funds under a special relief package for the victims as no funds were given to legislators during the pandemic to help constituents.

And as BJP MLAs demanded a discussion on an alleged scam in the procurement of DTC buses, four MLAs of the saffron party were marshalled out of the House, which had to be adjourned for 15 minutes.