Sitaram Yechury alleged BJP of bailing out rich borrowers (File)

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday posted a satire-image and lashed out at the public broadcaster Doordarshan. He said the broadcaster is not the "private property of the BJP" doing their "PR".

For the last few days, the state-owned Doordarshan (DD) has been broadcasting reports from across the country with people thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stating how they have benefitted from different schemes of the government.

"The public broadcaster runs on public money and is meant to perform public service. It is not private property of the BJP or Modi, where it does their PR. Those in charge must be held accountable for this deliberate distortion in these critical times of a public health emergency," Mr Yechury said in a tweet.

The public broadcaster runs on public money and is meant to perform public service. It is not private property of the BJP or Modi, where it does their PR. Those incharge must be held accountable for this deliberate distortion in these critical times of a public health emergency. pic.twitter.com/IdMbprwCxp — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) April 18, 2020

He also alleged the government has "all along benefitting rich cronies" at a time of crisis posed by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

In a tweet, Mr Yechury said, "252 buses for free for the rich: Nothing except lathis for starving migrant workers -- another brutal reminder of how BJP has all along benefitted rich cronies at the expense of the many who need essentials. They bailed out rich borrowers by Rs 7.76 lakh crores - Rs 0 for the poor (sic)."

252 buses for free for the rich: Nothing except lathis for starving migrant workers - another brutal reminder of how BJP has all along benefitted rich cronies at the expense of the many who need essentials. They bailed out rich borrowers by ₹7.76 lakh crores - ₹0 for the poor pic.twitter.com/nimjQWe0qU — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) April 18, 2020

"If BJP govts can send luxury buses to get rich pilgrims from Uttarakhand and elsewhere back to Gujarat and UP sends 100 buses for 7,500 students of rich families from Rajasthan, Centre must arrange for stranded starving workers: Not doing so is criminal," he said.

If BJP govts can send luxury buses to get rich pilgrims from Uttarakhand & elsewhere back to Gujarat & UP sends 100 buses for 7,500 students of rich families from Rajasthan, Centre must arrange for stranded starving workers: Not doing so is criminal. https://t.co/vmUfySVIiK — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) April 18, 2020

The number of coronavirus deaths rose to 480 and the number of cases to 14,378 in the country on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry. As many as 1,992 people have been cured and discharged while one had migrated, it said.