Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Reddy tweeted on the phone call row (File)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday joined union ministers and BJP leaders in defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren aimed a dig at the Prime Minister over a phone conversation on the Covid pandemic in his state.
However, while the BJP's responses were predictably furious, Mr Reddy's was measured; the YSR Congress chief urged his Jharkhand counterpart to not "indulge in politics that would only weaken our nation" and asked him to "come together and strengthen" the centre's pandemic response.
"Dear Hemant Soren, I have great respect for you... but as a brother I would urge you, no matter what ever our differences are, indulging in such level of politics would only weaken our own nation. In this war against COVID-19, these are the times not to point fingers but to come together and strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to effectively combat the pandemic," he tweeted.
Mr Reddy's tweet of support for the Prime Minister comes days before a CBI court is to hear a case seeking cancellation of his bail in connection with alleged irregularities in land allotment to pharma firms when his father, late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was Chief Minister.
That was pointed out by Saptagiri Ulaka, a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Odisha.
"Really sad to learn son of such a tall leader from Congress, late Shri YS Rajasekhara Reddyji, is now playing doodle-doodle with Modi for petty politics fearing raids. Grow up, you are a CM now," he said.
The substance of Mr Ulaka's tweet, however, was the opposite of what another Congress leader, Pawan Khera said; Mr Khera wrote: This tweet tells us everything about Covid crisis in India.
Our Prime Minister only talks. He does not listen - not even to Chief Ministers."
Mr Soren's irritable comment came after the Prime Minister, on Thursday, had a phone call with the leaders of Odisha, Telangana and Jharkhand. Jagan Mohan Reddy was part of that call.
"Today, respected Prime Minister called. He only spoke his "Mann Ki Baat". It would have been better if he would have talked business and listened to the issues," the Jharkhand Chief Minister tweeted in Hindi after the call, referring to PM Modi's monthly radio spot, loosely translated as "from the heart".
Mr Soren was "unhappy" as he was not allowed to speak about his concerns and it was only the Prime Minister who talked, a report by news agency PTI said, quoting official sources.
The post provoked furious responses from BJP leaders and supporters.
Earlier today Congress chief Sonia Gandhi - at the opening day of the party's parliamentary panel meeting - attacked the centre over its Covid response.
Jharkhand is among 10 states and union territories that account for over 75 per cent of the daily COVID-19 deaths in the country, government data says. The others are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Jharkhand reported 141 Covid deaths on Thursday and 5,770 cases. The mortality rate in the state remains higher at 1.28 per cent against the national mortality rate of 1.10 per cent.