NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JUN 21
Chief Minister Edppadi K Palaniswami was behaving as if he headed only Salem, DMK President M K Stalin alleged here on Sunday posing a series of questions to the AIADMK government over rising coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu.
#CoronaVirus பரவலுக்கு பலர் மீதும் பழிபோட்டு வந்த @CMOTamilNadu தற்போது இறைவன் மீது பாரத்தைச் சுமத்த முயல்கிறார்.
கொரோனா மறைவதுதான் நற்பெயர் தருமே தவிர; அதனை மறைப்பதல்ல!
இனியேனும் மக்கள் பிரதிநிதிகள், மக்களின் ஆலோசனைகளைக் கேட்டு #COVID19 இல்லாத தமிழகத்தை உருவாக்க முயலுங்கள்! pic.twitter.com/pqPY63pR3N
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) June 21, 2020
Leaving districts with a higher rate of infection, more tests have been done in Salem, which has lesser spread of the virus, he alleged. Salem is the native district of Palaniswami.
Stalin, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly claimed that 20,050 tests were done in Chengelpet which has 3,620 positive cases and Salem, which has 323 pathogen affected people has seen 31,019 tests.
Also, he gave statistics in respect of other districts as well and it is not immediately known if the data reflected the current status or not.
“I am not asking why you have done so much tests in Salem. I only seek to know why more tests were not done in districts which has been affected more…would it suffice if tests were conducted only in Salem,” he demanded to know in a statement.
Following his demand, the government furnished district wise testing data only for a day and later it was discontinued, he alleged.
Sarcastically, he asked: “Palaniswami is still behaving as if he is the Chief Minister for Salem union territory. When is he going to consider himself as Chief Minister for Tamil Nadu.”
Contesting Palaniswami’s statement that infection spread in districts other than Chennai was low, he said of the 2,396 total new cases on Saturday only 1,254 people belonged to Chennai and the remainder 1,142 was from other districts.
On Sunday, of the 2,532 new virus cases in the state, 1,493 were from Chennai and the remainder was scattered in other districts.
While the state’s tally was 59,377, Chennai accounted for 41,172.
“Does the statistics not show that the infection is increasing in other districts as well?” he asked.
The DMK chief alleged that the Chief Minister was not transparent about disclosure of COVID-19 positive status in respect of some people.
He said: “Why this should be hidden? What do you get by concealing? You cannot get a good name by hiding coronavirus cases or by showing less number of cases; only the news that coronavirus has dissipated will fetch a good name for the Chief Minister.”
The DMK leader also faulted the government for allegedly allowing “overcrowding” in Koyambedu and fish markets besides liquor shops.
