PATNA: Stepping up his attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday pleaded, albeit sarcastically, with Nitish Kumar not to remain 'invisible' amid the COVID-19 pandemic and floods.
Taking to Twitter, Yadav said, "Now, it has been 130 days, please now come out of the house for the public. What is the use of such a government and a king who leaves the people to die at the mercy of their fates in times of trouble?"
Slamming the state government for its inability to contain COVID-19, Yadav alleged that a glance at the data indicates the colossal failure of the leadership in Bihar.
"When the minimum daily requirement of tests was 10K, Bihar barely did 3K. By undertesting, Nitish ji wanted to show lesser number of cases," he alleged, adding that the state witnessed a massive surge of infections. He also claimed that the recovery rate of COVID-19 from June onwards in Bihar declined but the fatality rate increased.
He said that when around 40,000 tests per day are required, the state is merely doing 10,000. "Where are the CM and the deputy CM in times of calamity? The people want to know," he said.
Sharing data of the health department, Yadav said that 0 to 5000 cases of COVID-19 were reported in 92 days in Bihar that gradually became 5000-10000 in 23 days, 10000 to 15000 in 10 days, 15000 to 20000 in 4 days, 20000 to 25000 in 3 days and now 25000 to 30000.
He also shared data stating that Bihar has reported 14.72% rise in positive rate during the last 10 days covering July 13 to 22 with reduced recovery rate from 77.04% in June to 69.2% in July till the 22nd.
He alleged that the rising cases of COVID-19 indicate that Bihar is becoming a 'global hotspot' because of the failure of the state government, which is preparing for the elections with virtual rallies, ignoring the lives of the people.
He also lambasted the Chief Minister over the floods, saying they have started wreaking havoc on the lives of people as breaches are developing in the embankments leading to deluges.
Questioning the work of the water resources department, he said, "If the embankment construction was of good quality, then how did it develop breaches?"