A day after Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, in a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, complained about the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief spokesman and Minister for Minority Affairs Nawab Malik slammed him for allegedly spreading lies. “The Maharashtra government has been working hard to implement the COVID-19 management and containment measures. The death rate and positivity rate is dipping. The government has been transparent and did not hide the positivity rate or the number of deaths in the pandemic. The Supreme Court and Niti Aayog have hailed the government’s job. However, Fadnavis could not digest the government's praise and is, therefore, spreading lies,” claimed Malik.
Malik said there has been an attempt to defame the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. “Fadnavis could not see the good work done by the state government. However, in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP-ruled Gujarat, there are reports that 61,000 deaths in 71 days were hidden. Deaths were reported in Goa for want of oxygen. As high as 2,000 bodies were dumped in the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh.” He reiterated that the state government has been making all the efforts to combat the virus.
On the other hand, senior Congress leader and Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan said Fadnavis' letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the COVID-19 situation in the state proved the saffron party was ‘anti-Maharashtra’. "Fadnavis' letter tries to show Maharashtra was responsible for the COVID-19 situation in the country. I request him not to give a wrong picture of the state," Chavan said. Chavan said the central government did not take Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's warning about impending waves seriously.
He added that Maharashtra had the highest number of COVID-19 cases, adding that he was satisfied his state did not hide the number of cases and deaths. “Maharashtra did not suppress numbers, nor did it throw bodies in rivers due to the lack of space or wood for cremation,” he noted.
