Chennai, June 24(BPNS)

The ruling DMK and opposition AIADMK are fighting it out both within the house and outside for the credit in controlling the Covid pandemic. 

While the former minister and AIADMK spokesman D. Jayakumar set the ball rolling when he said on Monday that  it was the AIADMK government of Edappadi K Palaniswami that developed the health infrastructure in Tamil Nadu, the DMK  minister for Medical and Family welfare,Ma Subramanian said that it is the DMK government and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin who helped the state recover from the second wave of the pandemic by focused intervention and containing the disease.

While both these statements and open slugfest were on the outside on Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on the issue of containment of Covid -19.

Opposition leader and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami while speaking in the house said that his government had taken several initiatives including conducting 9.4 lakh fever clinics which benefitted 4. 85 crore people since March 2020.

The AIADMK leader said that the then government opened 267 laboratories for quick testing of patients during the initial days of Covid spread. He said that during that time there was no vaccination and that doctors and nurses did not have a proper experience in treating Covid 19 patients.

Palaniswami said,” Doctors, Nurses and other medical professionals and social activists did not have any idea about the disease and were scared. The government arranged PPE kits, stocked adequate drugs, N95 masks, and was even recognized by the Prime minister in the all Chief minister’s meeting held virtually”.

The AIADMK leader said that it was his government that brought the situation under control in state.

Refuting the claims, the state health minister, Ma Subramanian said,” The DMK government under Thiru M.K. Stalin has taken the initiative to increase the per day testing from 85000 to 1.7 lakh a day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent meeting had said that Tamil Nadu was a role model and the efforts taken in Chennai should be a model for other corporations in the country.”

Palaniswamy intervened in this and said that the test results were delayed and it took almost three days for a test result. He said, “This delay in test results by three to four days has led to more spread of the infection.”

With the AIADMK and DMK openly taking credit for controlling the Covid -19, political observers are of the opinion that the major Dravidian parties should not have stooped to this level taking credit for controlling a pandemic that has claimed the lives of many and destroyed the economy of the world.

S. Sivashankar, a journalist turned political analyst based out of Madurai while speaking to BPNS said,” Bringing down the Covid-19 fresh and active cases is the duty of the government. It is immaterial as to who rules the state and who is in opposition. 

Both the Dravidian parties have stooped to this level and this is not good for the state of Tamil Nadu and for the country. Credit taking in the midst of a major pandemic is something like children vie with each other in a sporting event.”