Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday attacked the Union government over mismanagement of COVID-19 situation and said the boat with 130 crore people is sinking.
Chidambaram tweeted, "Re-tweeting Health Minister (original tweet was invisible) "May Day! May Day! The Ship IN 2021 with 130 cr on board is sinking. Save Us! At least Save Me! (sic)"
India witnessed the highest spike of 3.86 lakh fresh cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 3,498 fatalities due to the virus, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
It was the ninth day in a row on Friday when India recorded more than 3 lakh cases while over 3,000 casualties have been reported for the past three days. On Thursday, India witnessed 3,645 deaths, its highest fatalities in one day since the pandemic broke out.
Earlier this week, Chidambaram said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will be put to test on May 1, when vaccination for all citizens above 18 years of age opens up, and asked whether he would resign if people are turned away without a vaccine. He also claimed that no state is ready for the rollout of the next phase of vaccination for all adults from May 1.
"Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will be put to test on May 1. His claim and his government's claim that there are sufficient stocks of vaccines with the States will be blown away," the former Union Minister wrote on Twitter.
"If people are turned away from the vaccination centres after May 1 on the ground of 'No vaccine', will the Health Minister resign?" Chidambaram asked.
The Congress has been asking the government to provide the vaccines to the states at the same price at which the Union government is getting those. The opposition party has also termed the Centre's vaccination policy discriminatory and said there should be one price for all the COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
With IANS and PTI inputs