Chennai: DMK president M K Stalin on Friday hit out at chief minister K Palaniswami for his expectation that the number of fresh coronavirus cases will slide to zero and demanded expeditious steps to procure equipment, carry out rapid testing besides measures for treatment, relief and rehabilitation.
The Dravidian party chief called Palaniswami's remark related to the manner in which coronavirus spread in Tamil Nadu a "joke," and said he wants the chief minister to stop uttering such things and instead sought measures to end the spread of the contagion.
Stalin said, "...it is a rare discovery on class discrimination, he should stop uttering such jokes and instead take steps to stop the spread of coronavirus."
The CM had said that coronavirus "...is a disease of the rich. People who had travelled abroad or to other states have imported it (to Tamil Nadu). It did not originate here."
Stalin, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, referred to Palaniswami's remark on Thursday that the government hoped that new cases will soon be zero in Tamil Nadu, and said that one does not know whether to "laugh or cry."
Palaniswami had said that the state was in the second stage of the spread and Thursday's new number of cases of 25 as against higher numbers in preceding days showed that the state has managed to contain it.
The CM had expressed hope that the number of fresh cases will soon touch zero as the rate of people getting cured was also increasing.
Citing statistics related to samples tested and results awaited, Stalin in a statement wanted to know from the government what percentage the tested people constituted when the population of Tamil Nadu was taken into account.
He demanded that more people should be tested as part of efforts to curb the spread of contagion.
According to a bulletin on Thursday, as many as 26,005 samples have been tested and 1,267 people have so far turned positive and as per census data of 2011 the State has a population of 7.21 crore.
The DMK chief alleged that despite his party and others telling the government to buy testing kits and speed up testing at a massive pace it was not heeded.
Stalin said rather than spending time in replying to him, the CM should take steps to expeditiously procure requisite medical equipment, testing kits and go in for rapid testing and ensure the appropriate treatment to the infected besides relief and rehabilitation to the affected the people.
