Rejecting Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegation that the Congress is playing partisan politics over COVID-19, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said that the party is only constructively engaged.
Mr. Shah in a tweet on Thursday had accused the Congress of playing petty politics. “High time they think of national interest and stop misleading people,” he had posted on Twitter.
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Mr. Sharma said that such allegations were completely baseless, and that the Congress, as a responsible and mature Opposition, has national interest at its heart. s“Giving critical inputs or recommendations should not be misconstrued by the government. They should take it in the right spirit by the government,” he said. The government should consider these suggestions and adopt whatever is actionable.
Funds needed
There are genuine gaps that the Congress, he said, has to point out, like the fact that they urgently need to release the dues to the State governments to cope with the crisis, Mr. Sharma said. He added: “Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said that after April 30, Punjab will have no funds. Most of the States have the same problem. GST (Goods and Services Tax) refunds or MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act) dues haven’t yet been transferred. Unless the States now borrow, they will have no money to pay their employees.”
