Row over oxygen : Fight over, can we do some work?

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal offered the Centre an olive branch on Saturday afternoon - a day after the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Union government clashed over claims the national capital had "exaggerated" medical oxygen needs during the peak of the second Covid wave.

Kejriwal - whose administration fought an extended battle with the Centre over the supply of medical oxygen to the city in April and May - called on the government to "come together to ensure nobody will lack oxygen in the third wave", and threw in a sarcastic swipe for good measure.

"If your fight over oxygen is over, can we get back to work? Let's make such a system together that there is no shortage of oxygen in the third wave. In the second wave, people suffered a severe shortage of oxygen. Now, this should not happen in the third wave," the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted in Hindi. "If we fight amongst ourselves then Corona will win. If we fight together, the country will win," he added.

In the report on Friday, the Supreme Court-appointed audit panel said that the Delhi government exaggerated its oxygen requirement by four times in April and May. However, the Delhi government rejected the claims and, in turn, accused the BJP of misleading people. Manish Sisodia, Delhi's deputy chief minister, said that findings of the audit committee "do not exist."

"We have heard of a so-called report that claims oxygen demand in Delhi was exaggerated. BJP leaders have been citing such a report against the AAP government. The truth is: There is no such report. The BJP is misleading people. No such report exists. The BJP is lying," Sisodia said in a video press briefing on Friday.