Shivraj Chouhan has populist ideas but deficient in administrative skills: Cong MP Vivek Tankha

File image: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has populist ideas but is deficient in administrative skills, Congress parliamentarian Vivek Tankha said on Sunday, criticising the handling of COVID-19 situations in the BJP-ruled state.

Asserting that bureaucracy was inefficient to manage this kind of medical emergency, he suggested the involvement of the private sector in the management of the crisis across the country.

“Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not equipped to deal with such kind of medical emergency. He has populist ideas but is deficient in administrative skills,” Tankha, a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, said.

He said the Madhya Pradesh government must take urgent steps to ensure that migrant workers from the state return to their homes safely from wherever they are besides allowing those stranded in the state to move to their respective native places.

Expressing condolences over the loss of lives of 16 migrant workers in Maharashtra's Aurangabad, Tankha said it is the responsibility of the state to take care of its citizens or domicile.

The workers were walking along the railway tracks to reach their home in Madhya Pradesh. Overcome with exhaustion, they slept on the tracks. They were mowed down by a goods train on Friday.

Meanwhile, Tankha's son, Varun, and his lawyer friends from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have started an online portal www.rahatcorona.com to help the stranded people of the state.

“We will be providing this service free of cost to help people of Madhya Pradesh stuck within the state or outside the state,” Varun Tankha, a lawyer by profession, said.

He said as the country is under the lockdown, his team will coordinate with the authorities concerned to provide the desired help to the stranded people.

“The aim of this initiative is to ensure that no migrant or stranded person faces any hardship,” Varun added.