Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has on Friday slammed Niti Aayog for their earlier prediction that there will be no COVID-19 cases after May 16.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi shared the COVID-19 graph rate as predicted by the Niti Aayog and wrote, "The geniuses at Niti Aayog have done it again. Iād like to remind you of their graph predicting the Govt's national lockdown strategy would ensure no fresh Covid cases from tomorrow, May the 16th."
Earlier, V.K. Paul, NITI Aayog member and head of a key government empowered committee on medical management, had presented a study which predicted that new COVID-19 cases would cease by May 16. He had also said that that the lockdown had slowed the rate of transmission and increased the doubling time to about 10 days.
However, the COVID-19 cases in the country keep rising every day. The cases crossed the 80,000 mark on Friday and the death toll is 2,657.
Congress Party also targetted the NITI Aayog on Twitter. They wrote, "Somewhere between the Planning Commission and NITI Aayog, we understood the importance of competence."
Congress added, "This is the Think Tank that advises the Govt. Let that sink in!"
Earlier in the day, the Congress has asked the government to spell out a roadmap for exiting the lockdown two days ahead of the expiry of lockdown-3 and following Prime Minister Modi seeking the states' suggestions for lifting the restrictions.
"Where is the national exit plan," asked Manish Tewari, Congress spokesperson on Friday.
"India announced a lockdown when the case count was 181 and now when you are lifting the lockdown, the number of cases has crossed 80,000. India is the first country apart from the US to be doing so," said Tewari.
(With IANS inputs)