India / Raj Governor cancels Independence Day 'At Home' event over COVID-19

Jaipur: Amid political turmoil in Rajasthan, Governor Kalraj Mishra has postponed the Independence Day ‘At Home’ event in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As per the statement issued by Mishra’s office, the annual event which takes place at Raj Bhawan stands cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 situation in the state.

Mishra said when the assembly session was adjourned on March 13, the number of active cases in the state was two and the session was adjourned in view of the spread of the pandemic.

The number of active cases on July 1 in the state stood at 3,381, which has gone beyond 10,000 as on July 28, the statement said.

“Serious efforts will have to be made to control corona in the state,” the governor stated.

On Tuesday, Mishra briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on the coronavirus situation in Rajasthan. The governor said that in a bid to curb coronavirus infections, a door-to-door survey is being conducted across the state. Mishra also informed them about the various measures taken by the state government to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.

Meanwhile, the Congress on Tuesday started an online campaign #GetWellSoonGovernor, urging the Governor to stop his “oppressive thinking” and call the state assembly session without any delay. In a series of tweets, AICC general secretary Avinash Pande accused the Governor of “bias” and “oppressive thinking”.

“The political developments in Rajasthan reflect that our Governor is also influenced by the oppressive thinking of the BJP, and he does not seem healthy with his biased thinking,” he tweeted in Hindi with #GetWellSoonGovernor hashtag.

“It is my appeal that the Governor may recover from the infection of biased thinking so that he can give his consent to convene an immediate assembly session to protect the Constitution and democracy without any partiality,” he said in another tweet.

On Tuesday, the Gehlot government sent a revised proposal for an assembly session to the Governor, sticking to its demand that the sitting should begin on July 31 and refusing to mention if it would seek a trust vote.