Stalin charges CM with doing opportunistic politics in fight against COVID-19
There was no place for politics during such a 'disaster,'Stalin said in response to Palaniswami's charge against him onSaturday, where the chief minister had lashed out at theLeader of the Opposition. Hitting out at Stalin after he wrote a letter to him,raising many issues, including the need for extending thelockdown, Palaniswami had said the state took an early lead intackling the spread of COVID-19 and slammed the LoP forindulging in "opportunistic politics" on the issue.
On Sunday, Stalin refuted Palaniswami's contention thathe was trying to paint a picture that the government was notdoing anything in the fight against coronavirus, and recalledhis party's constructive support to the ruling AIADMK in itsefforts in this matter.
"I only said the government has to be prepared,considering the severity of the pandemic. The Chief Ministercannot even tolerate that," Stalin said in a statement here.
If it were true that the state had indeed taken a leadahead in January as mentioned by the chief minister, then whyhad he last week appealed to people who had travelled out ofthe state to volunteer themselves for COVID-19 tests?, Stalinasked.
If, as stated by Palaniswami, the government procurednecessary personal protection equipment and N-95 masks amongothers in advance, why did he mention in late March that anumber of these items are going to be purchased, Stalin asked.
"As the state Leader of the Opposition, cannot I raise(these issues). What is the opportunism in this. I am asking(questions) at the time they need to be asked," he said.
The DMK had for long warned the government on this issueand its repeated pleas earlier to curtail the Assembly sessionlast month was proof enough, the DMK chief said.
However, the chief minister had initially batted for thecompletion of the session, originally scheduled till April 9before it was cut short, he said. On his opposition to the state government's decision toutilise Rs one crore from MLAs' funds, which was ridiculed byPalaniswami on Saturday, Stalin said the legislators will onlyspend the money according to local needs.
He claimed it was a 'conspiracy' to prevent the good workdone by his party MLAs.
Further, he wondered what was the "hesitation" inextending the ongoing lockdown and questioned if the state wasapprehensive of Centre in this matter.
Incidentally, his party had urged the Centre to heedTamil Nadu's plea for grants towards various efforts in itsfight against coronavirus, during the video conference meetingPrime Minister Narendra Modi had had with opposition leadersearlier.
Stalin said this was not the time to do politics, buthis party will not remain silent if the government "playedwith the lives of people."
"Government should function properly for the people, elseDMK will make the government function. I reiterate that thereare many platforms for the DMK to do politics but thisdisaster is one meant to serve people," he added. SA APRRAVINDRANATH APRRAVINDRANATH