Delhi CM Lambasts UP Over Covid-19 Management, Quality of Education, Sisodia Calls for 'Open Debate'

A day after Arvind Kejriwal announced that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls, Delhi CM on Wednesday hit out at his Uttar Pradesh counterpart over Covid-19 management and the quality of school education in India’s most populous state.

The war-of-words prompted criticism from UP’s basic education minister Satish Dwivedi over the state of government schools, while Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia sought for an open debate on education with the UP’s top political leaders.

Kejriwal alleged irregularities in conducting fake coronavirus tests and shared a news report on Twitter supporting his allegations.

“It seems like the good governance of the AAP in Delhi haunts Yogi Adityanath. The great work we have done on covid-19 management in Delhi is now being discussed by people across Uttar Pradesh. Unlike you, we did not have to resort to fake Covid-19 tests,” Kejriwal tweeted.

“Anyway, Manish (Sisodia) has accepted the invitation by your minister and he shall be in Lucknow on December 22 for a debate,” Kejriwal added.

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath government hit back. “As far as the fight against Covid-19 in Delhi is concerned, why did the central government have to intervene? Because they (AAP government) had failed… Mr Kejriwal is daydreaming,” said state minister Sidharth Nath Singh. Singh referred to a raft of measures announced by the Centre in June and in November to ramp up testing and curb the surge in infections.

Comparing the quality of education, Sisodia and Dwivedi publicly argued about the matter, reported Hindustan Times.

On Tuesday, Dwivedi had invited Kejriwal and Sisodia for a visit to Uttar Pradesh to take a tour of the government schools. In his UP polls announcement, Kejriwal had highlighted the conditions of healthcare facilities, schools, governance and law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

“BJP leaders asked for a debate on school models. They challenged me for a visit and also an open debate. I accept both challenges. Next Tuesday (Dec 22), I will be in Lucknow. Please let me know where to come for the debate and who to argue with – the chief minister, deputy CM or education minister of UP. Let’s have an open debate on government schools in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh… I have one request, please do not back down now,” Sisodia said, in a video briefing.

The Delhi government is the first and the only one to spend 25% of its budget on schools… The plight of UP government schools is well-known widely, Sisodia added. However, Dwivedi dismissed the suggestion of improving schools and called it ‘childish’.

“I only reacted to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement that the party would contest the 2022 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. And that there was no question of debating with Sisodia. I have several other commitments on that day and there’s no time to debate with him,” he added.

Comparing the sheer size of the state, Dwivedi added that we have 1.59 lakh government primary and upper primary schools across Uttar Pradesh where 1.8 crore students are enrolled, which is almost Delhi’s total population. Whereas Delhi has 1,024 government schools, he added.

Singh also slammed the AAP’s flagship mohalla or neighbourhood clinic initiative.

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