The ruling BJP and Congress on Sunday lashed out at each other after a video went viral of a State Minister and his supporters breaking coconuts and a priest chanting prayers in front of a tanker transporting oxygen from neighbouring Gujarat.
A sharp spike in COVID-19 cases across M.P. has given rise to a reported shortage of medical oxygen.
In videos being circulated on the social media, M.P. PWD Minister Tulsiram Silawat and his supporters can be seen offering prayers in front of the tanker in Indore, and posing in front of the vehicle for media photographs.
“When the tanker, which started from Gujarat’s Jamnagar, reached Chandan Nagar Chowk on Saturday, it was stopped for an hour by Silawat for puja paath, to get media coverage. They repeated it when the vehicle reached filling station,” M.P. Congress spokesperson Neelabh Shukla alleged.
‘Drama’
“They did this drama when there is an acute shortage of oxygen in hospitals and serious patients are gasping for breath,” he added.
Hitting back, Indore BJP chief Gaurav Randive said the tanker was not stopped “even for five minutes” at Chandan Nagar Chowk and was sent immediately to a filling station. “The video of us offering prayers was of the time when the tanker was being emptied at the filling station,” he claimed.
Indore’s tally rose to 89,317 on Sunday with 1,692 new cases, while the death toll increased by seven to reach 1,047.
