JP Nadda slams Pinaray Vijayan-led Kerala govt over COVID-19 \'mismanagement\'

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda on Tuesday lashed out at Pinarayi Vijayan led Kerala government for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and said that the state government had not played its role to tackle the pandemic.

While inaugurating the party's newly constructed district committee office building in Kozhikode via video conference, Nadda said, "Kerala government had not played its role to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. There are nearly 20,000 cases in Kerala on average. At this point in time, 1.08 lakh cases are present in Kerala, contributing to almost 50 per cent of the total burden of COVID cases. This is gross mismanagement. It is a model of mismanagement."

"70 per cent of tests were done were antigen tests! The real mode was RT-PCR, and this is why the burden of COVID has increased to this level. We also know that the proactive role that was to be taken by the govt was not taken here in Kerala," he added.

"In Kerala, a day before yesterday, Union Health Minister has given a special package worth Rs 267.35 crore for strengthening healthcare and for preparing the state for the third wave," he added further.

Nadda further targeted the Kerala Chief Minister and said, "Kerala is being identified by terrorist modules operating in various shapes, gold smuggling, ISIS recruiting centres and thus, the state is having a lot of problems. Even the office of the CM is under a cloud in case of gold smuggling case."

"The Central government wants to assist Kerala, but the present government is posing hindrances as far as development is concerned. Women are being targeted, children are being targeted and rapes are taking place. Police have been mere spectators," he added.