Days after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya claimed to have exposed a scam over allocation of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Bengaluru, the controversy is continuing.
Tejasvi Surya, the Bengaluru South BJP MP and Yuva Morcha president, Bommanahalli BJP MLA M. Sathish Reddy and Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya on Tuesday visited a COVID-19 war room of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). They made claims about a bed-blocking scam in Bengaluru and doubted the involvement of a few Muslims, whom he named. The reference to Muslims only had led to allegations the BJP leader was attempting to give a communal twist to the issue.
Early on Friday, some media reports claimed Tejasvi Surya had visited the same COVID-19 war room in Bengaluru South, where the controversy erupted, on Thursday. News 18 quoted an employee at the war room as saying Tejasvi had told staff, "If anyone or any community is hurt emotionally by my visit, I apologise for that."
However, by midday on Friday, the official handle of the Office of Tejasvi Surya claimed the report in News 18 was fake news.
The Office of Tejasvi Surya tweeted, "When one has no news, they create fake news." The personal Twitter handle of Tejasvi Surya re-tweeted the message.
The uproar created by the visit of Tejasvi Surya to the BBMP war room on Tuesday had disrupted work to curb COVID-19 in Bengaluru, according to some reports. Journalist D.P. Satish tweeted on Friday, "So-called ‘expose’ has adversely affected Covid treatment across Bengaluru . War room staff worried and morale is low. BBMP to doctors angry and upset. Resources are stretched to the limit..."
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The News Minute reported on Friday "scores of the 212 people who work in this war room have faced harassment, including sexual harassment, after their names and numbers were leaked on social media platforms”. Surya, reportedly, referred to the fact that numbers were leaked on his second visit and promised to "teach a lesson" to those responsible. Surya claimed he also was receiving threats.
