Govt praising itself on the basis of fake statistics: UPCC chief

LUCKNOW: Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu on Tuesday called the BJP government “shameless” for praising itself on the basis of fake statistics despite the “tower of corpses” rising in the state.

In a statement, UPCC chief trashed the state government’s claims on managing the coronavirus pandemic and accused chief ministers Yogi Adityanath of fudging Covid statistics.

Also including the union defence minister Rajnath Singh in the criticism, Lallu said: “Can’t the defence minister, who is praising the chief minister indulging in fudging the statistics, see the flames from the funeral pyres in his parliamentary constituency of Lucknow and other parts of the state?”

Lallu’s statement came hours after Rajnath praised Yogi Adityanath’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the state and said that the World Health Organisation too had done so.

Rajnath Singh, during his visit to Lucknow, had said that the WHO has praised the Uttar Pradesh government’s work and “it is not a small thing.”

“Can’t he (Rajnath Singh) see the deaths caused by the shortage of oxygen and the shortage of medicines?” he said, adding that Singh showed a lack of sensitivity by praising the chief minister.

Lallu said that contrary to the government’s claims, the ground reality says that there are “no vaccines, no oxygen, no medicines” in the state.

In a tweet on Monday, the WHO in a tweet mentioned the state government’s drive of house-to-house trace, test, treat campaign in rural parts of the state for checking Covid spread.