'Ask PM Modi', says Kejriwal amid blame game over chikungunya, dengue outbreak in Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal has defended the absence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who is in Goa these days to oversee the Aam Aadmi Party's preparations for next year's assembly elections.

New Delhi: As blame game over an outbreak of chikungunya, dengue and other viral diseases in Delhi continues, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought to put the entire blame on the BJP-led central government for failure in containing the spread of vector-borne diseases.

Kejriwal has also defended the absence of Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who is in Goa these days to oversee the Aam Aadmi Party's preparations for next year's assembly elections.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is due to leave for throat surgery in Bengaluru, also sought to deflect criticism over Jain's absence by saying that Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung is not in the capital either.

Interestingly, Jung is in the US.

Through a series of tweets, Kejriwal said, ''AAP has also blamed the BJP-dominated Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD, with Law minister Kapil Mishra asking where Delhi's "mayor has disappeared".

CM n min left wid no power now, even to buy a pen. LG n PM enjoy all powers wrt Del. LG abroad.Question them for Del https://t.co/t8ygcZmo1P — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 13, 2016

"The MCD is responsible for fogging to keep mosquitoes away," said Mishra.

Mishra further informed that Sayendra Jain will be back in the capital today and that he has been getting constant updates on the Delhi situation.

Kejriwal had faced criticism last week for choosing to skip a one-day session of the Delhi assembly that he had called to clear urgent business. He went to Punjab instead to supervise election work there.  

While AAP's ministers defend each other and justify their absence from Delhi for election-related tours, the capital is in the grip of a health crisis, with hundreds of new cases of mosquito-borne diseases being reported every day.  

Three people died of chikangunya yesterday, the first deaths from that disease in the capital. At least 10 people have died of dengue and malaria and hospitals overflowing with sick people.