Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Matia Mahal, Shoaib Iqbal, has demanded President’s Rule in Delhi in the midst of the city’s raging battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am pained by Delhi’s condition,” Iqbal said in his video message. “I am very worried, I can’t sleep. People are not getting oxygen and medicines. My friend is suffering. He is in hospital but is not getting oxygen or a ventilator. I have his prescription for Remdesivir but where do I get it from? His children are running around.”
“The President’s rule should be imposed in Delhi with immediate effect,” the AAP MLA said.
Iqbal, who was with the Congress before he switched to AAP ahead of the 2020 Assembly elections, said he was ashamed of being an MLA as neither him nor the government can offer any help.
“I am a six-time MLA, the senior most,” Iqbal added. “But despite this, no one is responding, you can’t contact any nodal officer. In this situation I would like to request the Delhi High Court to impose President’s rule in Delhi otherwise there will be dead bodies on the road.”
The Arvind Kejriwal government is facing flak from opposition parties over its poor handling of the Covid-19 situation in the national capital.
Reacting to Iqbal’s statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said, “Iqbal is not just an AAP MLA, he is also the one with the most experience in the Delhi Assembly. If he is saying that the situation has gone out of control and people are suffering, and the President’s rule should be imposed in the states, he is right. We also believe that Delhi should now be under the Centre’s control and there should be President’s rule as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not being able to manage the situation.”
Recently, considering that healthcare system is stretched to breaking point, Delhi’s lieutenant governor (L-G) Anil Baijal became the ‘government’ in the Union territory after the Centre notified the amended Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021
