The national capital has been hit by dengue, chikungunya and malaria and a hundreds of cases are being reported in the Delhi hospitals. But something which is grabbing the headlines out of this is the fact that the cabinet members and the Chief Minister of the ruling party AAP are missing in action from the capital. As chief minister Arvind Kejriwal campaigns in Punjab, seeking to expand his party’s footprint beyond Delhi, people in his own state are locked in a losing battle with chikungunya and dengue, both of which have assumed epidemic proportions. The municipal corporation data shows dengue, chikungunya and malaria has affected 1158, 1,057 and 21 people, respectively. But these numbers are misleading. "The figures released by corporations are not reflective of the crisis at all. You need to the emergency section of any hospital to understand that," a senior doctor at AIIMS said.

The hospital has 38 beds in the emergency wing but has been getting 150-200 patients at any given time. The opposition is fuming at the failure of the ruling party as the Chief Minister is away in Bengaluru for his treatment, while the Health Minister Satyender Jain is on a visit to Goa to oversee the Aam Aadmi Party's preparations for next year's assembly elections. Manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister and the man in charge of Delhi during Mr Kejriwal's 10-day visit to Bengaluru, is also not in town. He is in Finland for an education programme. Kapil Mishra, one AAP minister who is available in Delhi, blamed the BJP-dominated Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD, asking where the "mayor has disappeared". While the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda also said that centre is ready to provide any help needed. “Centre is ready to provide whatever assistance needed by state governments,” Nadda said on Tuesday.