Credit Battle Shadows City's War On Covid

Experts warn against complacency as BJP, AAP clash for credit over dip in cases & LG-Delhi govt differences mount

- Gulam Jeelani and Pankaj Jain

On Sunday, Delhi’s Covid19 death toll went past a grim milestone of 4,000. But overall, there’s been a remarkable turnaround in the past few weeks.

Fatalities, new cases and the positivity rate have dropped. Testing and recoveries have gone up. There are more unoccupied hospital beds and isolation facilities now.

All this could be possible after the Centre, led by Home Minister Amit Shah, and the AAP government joined hands for a greater focus on treatment, testing and containment.

“Daily deaths came down to 15 on Sunday. The total infections were less than 1,000. Let’s all keep working hard to ensure that the downward trend continues,” said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

But here’s a danger. An ugly credit war has broken out between BJP and AAP. And LG-Delhi govt differences are mounting. Experts warned against complacency as a second wave is possible.

AAP TAKES CREDIT

AAP leaders and workers have been claiming credit for the “effectiveness” of “Kejriwal’s model” in bringing the situation under control.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj gave credit to party chief Kejriwal. It cannot be that the responsibility is of Arvind Kejriwal and the credit will go to Amit Shah. It is immoral of the Centre to take credit,” he said.

Another AAP spokesperson, Raghav Chadha, said, “A well-curated and sound strategy was put in place by CM Arvind Kejriwal. Proud to say Delhi exited the list of top states when it comes to the infection rate and total number of cases.”