PM's image dead, brutal third Covid wave likely, says Rahul Gandhi; BJP hits back at 'mindless blabbering'

He held the Prime Minister responsible for the second wave of Covid-19

Launching a frontal attack, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image of a strong leader was dead and said that it was time he started worrying about the Covid-19 crisis that could bring further miseries if not controlled soon.

Addressing a virtual press conference, the former Congress President also cautioned about a “more brutal” third wave of the Covid-19 if the Modi government failed to fine-tune the vaccination strategy to prevent the virus from spreading further.

“I guarantee you, at 3% vaccination we are going to get a third wave and it is going to be more brutal than the second wave. If we continue to leave space open, there will be a fourth & fifth wave and then there is a chance the vaccine won't work,” Gandhi said.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi blames Narendra Modi for second Covid wave, says more to come if no vaccine strategy is in place

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dismissed Gandhi’s remarks as “mindless and meaningless blabbering”, while I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government would complete the vaccination drive by December this year.

“While the responsible citizens of India are using the precious internet bandwidth to keep the wheels of economy churning by working from their homes, the only tangible outcome of senseless, mindless & meaningless blabbering by Rahul Gandhi is the wastage of this precious resource,” Pradhan said.

Gandhi held the Prime Minister responsible for the second wave of Covid-19 and accused the government of failing to put together a strategy to tackle the pandemic.

“The Prime Minister doesn't think strategically. He is an event manager, he thinks one event at a time... You don't need events now. Events are going to kill people, you need a strategy. The aim of the strategy is – shut the space for corona,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader accused that instead of planning to keep the third wave of Covid-19 away, the Prime Minister was worried about his image, which had taken a beating.

Also read: Everyone will be vaccinated for Covid-19 by December, says Prakash Javadekar

“The PM is terrified, he is in shock. He is trying to figure out how he repairs his image. His image is gone, dead. I would request him to stop worrying about his image and start worrying about the problem in front of him,” Gandhi said.

He assured the Prime Minister that the entire opposition was with the government in the fight against the pandemic and urged him to form a panel that could consult experts and devise a strategy to battle Covid-19 effectively.

“The most important thing is that listen to the people who are trying to help people, be it opposition leaders, bureaucrats... If Baghel ji, Narendra Modi ji, Mamata ji are on the same page, we can tackle the virus,” Gandhi said, referring to the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.