BJP's priority is cabinet expansion, not Covid-19: Siddaramaiah

Taking a dig at the BJP government in Karnataka, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said it was focusing only on cabinet expansion and not COVID-19.

"Thousands have died in absence of adequate hospitals, beds, ventilators, and oxygen.It must be prevented from recurring but Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is running around for cabinet expansion instead of focusing on COVID-19," Siddaramaiah told reporters in Karwar, the headquarters town of Uttara Kannada district.

Wondering why Bommai should go to Delhi every now and then, the Congress stalwart said the BJP high command must also understand the problems of the state.

He alleged that the BJP legislators have camped in Bengaluru to lobby for a ministerial berth instead of visiting their constituency to work there.

For the BJP legislators, ministerial berths are more important than human lives, Siddaramaiah alleged.

He cautioned the government that it should ensure that the situation should not lead to imposing a lockdown.

"The number of infections in the past two days has been close to two thousand...," the leader of the opposition in Karnataka assembly said.

Siddaramaiah said the primary task of the state government is to prevent the third wave of COVID-19 in the state, which, he claimed, has already hit neighbouring Maharashtra and Kerala.

He asked the government not to relax the norms for those who have taken both the shots of COVID-19 vaccine and make negative test reports mandatory for those entering the state from neighbouring states with high COVID prevalence.

Regarding a few public representatives going to court to seek an injunction against the telecast of their objectionable videos, Siddaramaiah said what was the need for them to move the court when they were clean.

Karnataka on Sunday reported 1,875 fresh cases and 25 deaths while the state has over 24,000 active cases.