The Congress has sent a clear signal to the opposition BJP in the state to not politicize the Coronavirus issue. Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress State President Balasaheb Thorat taunted BJP that instead of criticising the Maha Vikas Aaghadi government it should instead help it.
Maharashtra has demanded a package of Rs 25,000 crore from the Centre to help the state to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi has made it clear that in this battle against Corona, we are with the central government. We are not criticising them but just stating our expectations from them. However, BJP is indulging in politics on this issue. They are demanding to spend money on this and that. Instead they should clear the Rs. 16,500 crores of GST dues and then they should suggest where to spend the money. Devendra Fadnavis should not act as an opposition leader in these testing times,” slammed Thorat.
“We are not getting PPE and testing kits as per our demand. We are providing ration to 3 crore saffron ration cards and for this we are spending Rs. 260 crore additionally. We have demanded this money from center but haven't received the fund as yet,”stated Thorat.
He also accused the BJP of double standards in criticism.
“Labourers outbreak happened twice in Surat. However, hastags like CM should resign or President rule didn't trend then. Such incidents also happened in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh as well. However when this happened in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah called CM Uddhav Thackeray. Did Amit Shah called Gujarat or Kerala CM? This shows Bandra incident was a political conspiracy,” alleged Thorat.
