BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Saturday criticised the BJP for its double standards over the issue of migrant workers by demanding 100 per cent testing of all returnees to Odisha. In a statement, party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra said the BJP should at least believe in the guidelines laid down by its party Government at the Centre, the Health Ministry and the ICMR which state that testing of symptomatic persons should only be done.
Stating that about 80 lakh to one crore migrants have returned to BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Patra asked that do the BJP and its spokespersons have the moral courage to ask the chief ministers of these states to undertake 100 per cent testing of all returnees.
“When about 30-40 lakh tests have been done so far in India, do the BJP ruled states have the capacity to test close to one crore migrants those have returned,” he asked. Criticising the Odisha Government’s policy vis-a-vis the migrant workers, State unit BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan had demanded that there should be testing of all migrants to check Covid-19 transmission.