Published 17:50 IST, April 18th 2020
Prashant Kishor mocks Bihar CM for not leaving his home since a month amid COVID-19 crisis
Prashant Kishor alleged that Nitish Kumar was probably the only CM in India to not have stepped out of his bungalow citing the nationwide lockdown as an excuse
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Former JDU vice president and political strategist Prashant Kishor on Saturday mocked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his handling of the novel coronavirus crisis. He opined that Kumar was probably the only CM in India to not have stepped out of his bungalow since a month citing the nationwide lockdown as an excuse. Taunting the Bihar CM further, Kishor alleged that the former was so busy and compassionate that he did not even have a telephonic conversation with other CMs to help the stranded residents of Bihar. Currently, there are 83 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the state out of which 37 persons have recovered while two casualties have been reported.
नीतीश जी शायद इकलौते ऐसे CM हैं जो पिछले एक महीने से #lockdown के नाम पर आपने बंगले से बाहर नहीं निकले हैं।
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 18, 2020
साहेब की समवेदनशीलता और व्यस्तता ऐसी है कि कुछ करना तो दूर इस दौरान बिहार के फँसे हुए लोगों की मदद के लिए आपने किसी राज्य के CM से फ़ोन पर भी बात करना ज़रूरी नहीं समझा।
Kishor disapproves of a generalized lockdown
Earlier, Kishor disapproved of a generalized lockdown being branded as a solution to fight the novel coronavirus crisis. Claiming that the lockdown was solely led by police, he contended that this was not the way to tackle COVID-19- a public health and economic crisis. Moreover, Kishor opined that a "badly executed" lockdown would destroy the livelihood of millions of Indians. He also called for requisite testing, isolation and treatment measures.
It is simply incomprehensible to see a police-led generalised lockdown pushed as PANACEA to get over a public health and economic crisis like #CoronaPandemic #DifficultTimesAhead
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) April 8, 2020
The novel coronavirus crisis
On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3, 2020. Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Lav Aggarwal- the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health stated that 991 fresh COVID-19 cases and 43 deaths had been reported in the last 24 hours. He revealed that Markaz attendees constituted nearly 30% (4291) out of India's COVID-19 tally of 14,378. Mentioning that there is a 3.3% COVID-19 mortality rate in the country, he added that 83% of such cases were due to co-morbidities.
17:50 IST, April 18th 2020