CPM chief Sitaram Yechury on Friday alleged that the Narendra Modi government delayed announcing the Covid-19 lockdown so that a BJP government could be installed in Madhya Pradesh.

Just 15 months after being voted out of power, the BJP toppled the Congress government in the sprawling state and Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as chief minister on March 23. A day later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Knowing full well that the pandemic is galloping, Modi delayed the lockdown for swearing in its govt in MP (Madhya Pradesh). The BJP’s lust for power has exposed millions to become victims. Its insatiable, unprincipled greed is directly responsible for this worsening public health emergency,” Yechury tweeted.

Chouhan is the only person to have been sworn in and the state is yet to have any other minister, which is believed to have greatly impeded Madhya Pradesh’s fight against the virus. Madhya Pradesh, one of the most affected states that also has a high coronavirus mortality rate, has been further hobbled by the fact that almost its entire health bureaucracy has been struck down by Covod-19.

Yechury, the CPM general secretary, appealed to the central government to conduct more tests for Covid-19.

In another tweet, he said: “Eighty-nine days after the first case was detected in India, we are still not testing enough. Govt must stop making excuses, for it is clear that a lockdown will only work with much higher and aggressive testing, especially in some of our most populous states.”

Yechury also slammed the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal over alleged lack of transparency in addressing a public health emergency.

“A public health emergency needs transparency and honest communication. By abandoning these fundamental principles, the TMC govt in Bengal has put lives of millions at risk,” he tweeted.

CPM leader Fuad Hakim has moved Calcutta High Court seeking data on the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities in Bengal.