Amidst the deployment of central investigating agencies in the state and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) move to corner the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, Congress ministers and state unit chief Nana Patole, on Tuesday, met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the present political situation and press for relief to the electricity consumers in the inflated bills received during the lockdown.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been repeatedly defaming Mumbai and Maharashtra and BJP leaders in Maharashtra are working at the behest of Gujarat. It was also witnessed in the Sushat Singh Rajput death case. The Mumbai Police is one of the best police forces in the world, but is being painted as a villain. Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis' statement about the Mumbai Police was widely condemned, Patole said. He also warned that the Congress would not tolerate the BJP's insult to the Maharashtra Police.
Patole alleged that it was done to divert the people’s attention from the rise in fuel prices and ongoing farmers’ protest. He said that by raking up the Sachin Vaze case, BJP wants to suppress Member of the Parliament (MP) Mohan Delkar’s suicide. "Congress will not support Vaze or anyone in the present bomb scare case,” he clarified.
Patole said the appointment and transfer of IAS and IPS officers is the Chief Minister’s prerogative and Congress has no role in it. “Congress is trying to get much needed relief to the consumers who have received inflated bills during lockdown. The chief minister has called a report from the Energy Department and, thereafter, the government will take a decision,” he said.
About the rise in cases, he said, “The crisis is getting worse again. While the growing number of patients in Maharashtra has become a matter of concern, it is unfortunate that the central government is deliberately not providing adequate vaccines to the state.”
