A war of words has broken between the ruling BJP party and the Opposition over the 14-day lockdown from today.

As lockdown commenced there were allegations of police severely beating up people on the city streets. The Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah charged, “More than the pandemic, people are suffering due to the diseased administration of BJP in Karnataka. Lockdown guidelines are very confusing. It will not be a surprise if people from rural areas start large scale protests.”

‘Step up testing’

“Daily around 50,000 positive cases are being reported. This has led us to a complete lockdown for two weeks. This is the time for the government to come up with a financial package for the affected people to buy essential groceries. I demand Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to immediately come out and announce relief measures,” he demanded.

The former chief minister further said “More testing is need of the hour to detect infections early. Yes, the number of cases will go up. But the BJP government in the state is not testing adequately.

The government has reduced the testing rate deliberately as there is no infrastructure available to treat people. By doing this, the government is pushing people to the jaws of death.”

Former chief minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, said “I had suggested imposing a lockdown to save peoples’ lives. While saying this, there should be solutions to the problems while imposing lockdown.

Call for cooperation

However, the government has been irresponsible by not taking care of people during the lockdown. The government should review its stand by taking steps as done by neighbouring states. People’s health is just as important as the lives of people.”

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted “As we begin the 14-day strict restriction to break the chain of infection, I request all citizens to follow the guidelines in letter and spirit. Your cooperation is crucial to contain the spread of the virus. Together we can defeat the pandemic.”

Taking exception to opposition parties’ criticisms on lockdown, State Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa slammed the Opposition leaders and said they are under the impression that their duty is to criticise the government. But they must remember that this is not the time as people are losing their lives due to Covid-19.

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