Amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, Maharashtra has emerged as one of the worst-affected states. It has recorded the highest number of cases and fatalities, with 52,667 COVID-19 cases having been recorded till date. Of these, 15,786 people have recovered, while there have been 1,695 fatalities.
In recent times, there has been criticism for how the Uddhav Thackeray-led government is handling the situation. On Monday, BJP MP Narayan Rane on Monday met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, demanding that President's Rule be imposed in the state.
Former Chief Minister and Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis however says that the party is not interested in a "change of government" amid the virus outbreak.
"The State Government is yet to spend financial aid provided by the Centre. I really don’t understand what is the priority of the state government,"Fadnavis told news agency ANI.
"We are not interested in change of Government in the state as COVID-19 situation is serious. We are fighting against Coronavirus and want to pressurize Govt for the same," he said, adding that the need of the hour was for "assertive leadership".
"I expect Uddhav ji to take bold decisions," he said.
The pan-India lockdown that went into effect over two months ago continues to be in effect over large parts of Maharashtra. Lockdown 4.0 remains in place till May 31. There is speculation that the lockdown may be extended further -- at least for some parts of the state.
On Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi found himself joining the controversy after he took to Twitter to point out that the Congress was only one-third of the Maharashtra government, and thus, not the decision maker.
"I would like to make a differentiation here. We are supporting the government in Maharashtra, but we are not the key decision maker in Maharashtra," he had said.
