An RTI filed by activist Vivek Pandey has revealed that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had written to the Prime Minister for the first time only on April 18 this year to seek help to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
This was the first letter by the Delhi CM to the Prime Minister on Covid-19 preparedness between July 2020 to April 2021, the RTI reply informs.
#RTI was filed to CMO Delhi seeking information about letters written to health ministry & PMO seeking #COVID19 aid.
— Vivek pandey (@Vivekpandey21) June 24, 2021
1. No information on 1st point.
2. Between July 2020 to April 2021 , 3 letters were sent to PMO related to Covid 19 dated- 31/08/2020, 26/11/2020, 18/04/2021. pic.twitter.com/21gzogr8hY
Kejriwal in his letter alerted the Centre about the worrisome situation in the national capital. He also requested immediate intervention as the city’s healthcare infrastructure was at the brim with a severe shortage of hospital beds and medical oxygen. Kejriwal in the same letter also thanked the Centre for its constant support since the onset of the pandemic.
This shows that while the Delhi govt had been alleging that the union govt is not providing enough assistant to it in fight against Covid-19, the CM had not written to the centre about the issue before April this year, more than a year after the pandemic hit the country.
Previous letters
Among the three letters included in the RTI reply, only the last letter was requesting help for Covid-19. Before this, Kejriwal had written to the Prime Minister on November 26 thanking the Centre for reviewing the Covid-19 preparedness and for a solution to the increasing menace of stubble burning.
Prior to that Kejriwal had written to the PMO demanding and discussing GST compensations.
While talking to OpIndia, RTI activist Vivek Pandey said, “Arvind Kejriwal was silent on Covid-19 till the second wave hit. His previous letters to the PMO talked about other concerns.”
Arvind Kejriwal’s staged drama
In an unforgettable scoop, Arvind Kejriwal on April 23 had televised his speech from a private meeting organized between the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. Sitting with folded hands, Kejriwal was seen pleading and suggesting the PM to implement measures to battle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Insinuating that he had ‘better ideas’ than the Centre, Kejriwal just five days before the drama had thanked the Centre for help and constant support.
In a love-hate relationship with the Centre, Kejriwal while blaming the Centre for its failure on Covid handling, also kept thanking the Prime Minister and the Union Health Minister for their prompt help.
Latest PR stunt
After slamming the Centre with its double-standard demands on vaccination, the Kejriwal government today released a full front-page advertisement in several leading newspapers asking the citizens to get vaccinated. While now the entire vaccination program is run by the central govt, the Delhi government tried to get credit for the same by appealing to the people to get registered at the CoWIN portal to get vaccinated.
