Mumbai diary

Express News Service
Call to add more specialists to Covid task force Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is being guided by a task force of medical experts lead by Dr Sanjay Oak. Oak has worked as the Dean of the BMC-run KEM hospital. He is a specialist in pediatric surgery and laparoscopy. Now, many have questioned why the task force does not have specialists from areas like microbiology, epidemiology, immunology or pathologists. There’s a general feeling that if specialists from these areas are added to the task force, the state will stand to benefit as they can provide better advice on various strains of the virus and opportunistic infections like mucormycosis, cytomegalovirus etc.

Opposition attacks Thackeray’s style of functioning Maharashtra’s BJP-led Opposition have criticised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for running the government from the comforts of his home. It has asked Uddhav to come out and visit various parts of the state to take stock of the damage done by the pandemic and the cyclone. Responding to the criticism, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government asked the Opposition to tell the same thing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who the state government said, comes out of the PMO only to attend elections rallies in poll-bound states. The government criticized the PM over not giving press conferences or visiting his constituency in Uttar Pradesh. It asked the PM to visit River Ganga to understand the pain of the people who’s near and dears ones have been unceremoniously buried on the banks of the river.

Will Raksha Khadse follow father-in-law?Though BJP MP Raksha Khadse’s father-in-law Eknath Khadse has joined the Nationalist Congress Party, Raksha has maintained a studied silence over the question of her following suit. Besides, Eknath Khadse has also clarified that his daughter-in-law will remain in the BJP. However, since Raksha recently wrote a letter to the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadnanda Gawda complaining about the high price of fertilizers, there have been speculations about her quitting the BJP and following the footsteps of her father-in-law to the NCP.

Tauktae: Ajit Pawar steals the show On Monday morning, with Cyclone Tauktae approaching Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar reached the Emergency Management & Control Room at the Mantralaya and started monitoring the situation. Soon, videos and photos of him holding meetings and taking stock of the situation went viral. Praise poured in for the Deputy CM. Meanwhile, it did not go unnoticed that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was nowhere in the picture. . To salvage the situation, Aditya Thackeray arrived at the BMC’s disaster management room in the evening and took stock of the situation. 

Sudhir Suryawanshi Our correspondent  in Maharashtra [email protected]