Bihar BJP MP Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Jan Adhikar Party chief Pappu Yadav engaged in a war of words after a fleet of ambulances were found lying unused on a piece of land belonging to the parliamentarian.
Yadav, a former MP, demanded to know why the ambulances — covered with tarpaulin and parked — were lying unused at a time the state is battling a massive rise in Covid-19 cases, NDTV reported.
“There are over 30 ambulances here. There were more earlier but they have been moved. Overall close to 100 ambulances were parked here. We want to know why they were not being used… this is not about Rudyji or Pappu… this is about Bihar and the people of Bihar,” Yadav said.
Rudy, who represents the Saran Lok Sabha seat, retorted saying the ambulances were lying unused for want of drivers.
“There are not 60, 70 or 100 ambulances, but only 20. And they are not being used because we don’t have drivers. Pappu Yadav… you can take all the ambulances, but promise the people of Saran that you will find and employ drivers for all of them,” he said.
Rudy on Thursday also wrote to the District Magistrate of Chhapra to ask for doctors who can drive the ambulances.
Visuals showed Yadav removing the tarpaulin covers of a few ambulances at Rudy’s native village, Madhaura, in Saran.
‘MPLADS-2019’ was written on the ambulances. MPLADS is the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. Under the scheme, a sum of Rs 5 crore is allotted to each MP every year to develop his or her constituency. The scheme, however, was suspended by the central government since April last year to divert funds to fighting the pandemic.
Bihar reported over 13,000 new Covid cases and 62 deaths in the past 24 hours.
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