PATNA: Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav attacked Nitish Kumar-led state government by accusing his Health Minister Mangal Pandey of lying in the assembly about the testing for the COVID-19.
Yadav stated that Mangal Pandey had informed the august house that about 3.24 lakhs of tests for COVID-19 were done by the RT-PCR, 1.10 lakhs by True Nat machines and 1.78 lakhs by the antigen kits.
"On 3 August, the Bihar Health Minister told me in the House that 52.9% of the total corona tests in Bihar were done with RT-PCR, 17.9% with the True Nat machines and 29% with Antigen tests. But CM Nitish Kumar in a review meeting with the PM on August 11 said that that less than 10% RT-PCR testing was only done," Tejashwi Yadav said.
Now, the real question is, whether Bihar CM Nitish Kumar lied or health minister Mangal Pandey?, he asked at a media interface on Thursday.
The RJD leader played the video footage of the minister speaking about the RT-PCR tests and the official news release of government quoting what CM Nitish Kumar informed the PM in a review meeting on the status of tests by RT-PCR.
He alleged that the state has never been able to conduct more than 5000 tests with RT-PCR daily at government run testing centers.
"And lying inside the house (assembly) is the biggest crime," he said showing a video footage of Mangal Pandey's statement given in the house. He also accused CM Nitish Kumar that he lied to the PM. "In the video conferencing with the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister has talked about the establishment of RT-PCR testing centres in 5 new medical colleges, while according to the press release of ICMR issued till August 11, no application for approval of a new laboratory from Bihar was received. It is very shameful that the Chief Minister is misleading the Prime Minister and lying also to the people of Bihar," he said.
Quoting figures of some other states, Tejashwi Yadav said that all states have done the work of expanding the scope of RT-PCR testing except Bihar. “In Tamil Nadu, all tests are done with the RT-PCR on an average rate of 67000 tests daily. Similarly 27000 RP-PCR tests are done in Andhra Pradesh and 20000 RT-PCR tests are done daily in Gujarat besides other states," he said.
Placing a suggestion, he requested Nitish Kumar to ensure at least 50,000 total RT-PCR tests daily are done in Bihar. Mangal Pandey declared the allegation of Tejashwi Yadav baseless and motivated by vested interest of politics.
Countering the allegation of Tejashwi Yadav, spokesperson of Bihar BJP Dr Nikhil Anand said: “During this crisis times of COVID-19 and Flood, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is resorting to cynicism and propaganda to score against the government's effort."
Dr Anand also said that when people of Bihar facing challenges, Yadav seems to be sitting on the sidelines to clap over every tragedy taking place due to epidemic or natural calamity. “Government of Bihar is leaving no stone unturned to help people during this crisis times. Tejashwi needs to be sensible and sensitive in his political approach," he claimed.