The chief minister Mamata Banerjee today rubbished the claims of the Centre that no deaths occurred due to oxygen shortages, and instead said that the central government has no data on the large number of dead bodies that were thrown into the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh.

The statement of Miss Banerjee comes right after the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday snubbed the Centre for being allegedly responsible for 50 lakh deaths during the second wave through “wrong decisions”.

The CM, while addressing a Press conference, said it is a rubbish claim by the Modi government that not a single person died in any state due to oxygen shortages. She said the central government doesn’t have any data since several bodies were thrown into the river, such as in Uttar Pradesh. “Were those bodies counted? Who will account for those corpses?” she questioned.

It may be noted that the denial by the Modi government has come under fire from several quarters of the Opposition in the Parliament. The BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra attempted to clarify by saying, “Centre has only given data provided by the states and none of the states has attributed a single death to oxygen shortage.”

Mis Banerjee also condemned what she said was attacks on journalists by the Modi government. She alleged the government is coming down on media houses that have reported extensively on the alleged mishandling of the Covid situation by the Modi government.

Miss Banerjee had yesterday lashed out at the centre during Marty’s day address for what she alleged was snooping on states rather than supplying them with adequate vaccines to save lives from coronavirus.

She lambasted the Centre for the Pegasus snooping controversy where even her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee was reportedly on the target list of the Israeli spyware that was reportedly being used by an unidentified “Indian client”.

The CM today said that it came to light, after Prashant Kishore’s phone underwent forensic examination, a meeting conducted before the state polls at her Kalighat residence, and which was attended by Subrata Bakshi, Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishore, was recorded using the Pegasus spyware which activates phone recorders and cameras without the user of the device having any clue.

The Modi government has, however, neither denied nor accepted the charge that the Indian government is a client of the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group that sells the spyware only to “vetted governments”.

It may be noted that Banerjee has written to the Prime Minister, at least, twice this month for the supply of more vaccines. She today said that she finally has secured an appointment to meet the PM and the President, and will soon leave for Delhi. She, however, did not disclose the exact dates of the appointment but assured that details will be made available to the Press in time.