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Tag: Devendra Fadnavis

  • COVID-19: ‘Faulty ventilators not a topic for politics’, says ex-Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: Maharashtra has received a large number of ventilators under the PM CARES fund and the ones that are faulty must be replaced without any politics being played on it, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

    He was speaking to reporters after attending a review meeting with divisional commissioner Sunil Kendrekar. “Maharashtra has got nearly 5,000 ventilators through PM CARES fund. Many of them were kept packed for nearly four months, so the faulty ones must be replaced quickly. This is not a topic to play politics on,” the former chief minister said.

    A PIB release of May 14 of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had said media reports of some ‘Made in India” ventilators not functioning properly in Aurangabad were “baseless and incorrect, and not supported by full information on the matter”.

    Speaking on the COVID-19 situation in the region, Fadnavis said, “The number of cases had come down in Latur and Aurangabad but the positivity rate was still high at 21 per cent. The situation in Beed needs attention.”

    Fadnavis said the setting up of oxygen storage tanks in large numbers was a good a sign and would help in the future, adding that preparing for a possible third wave was important. He said that Mucormycosis was first reported in Maharashtra which allowed the state to procure injections for its treatment in time, while other areas in the country are facing a shortage.

    Fadnavis said he had spoken to firms manufacturing medicines for the black fungus infection and the latter had ramped up production.

  • Move SC afresh for raising Maratha quota limit: Devendra Fadnavis to Maharashtra government

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said the Maharashtra government should file a review petition in the Supreme Court to increase the 50 per cent ceiling on reservation.

    Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, he also accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of passing the buck on the Maratha quota issue.

    His statement comes a day after the Centre moved the Supreme Court seeking review of the May 5 majority verdict, which held that the 102nd Constitution amendment took away the power of state governments to declare Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) for grant of quota in jobs and admissions.

    A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan had unanimously set aside the Maharashtra law that granted quota to Marathas and had refused to refer 1992 Mandal verdict putting a cap of 50 per cent on reservation to a larger bench.

    ALSO READ | Maharashra govt to announce sops to pacify Marathas

    Fadnavis said, “The central government has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court to reconsider the verdict. However, the state is yet to file a review petition in the SC to increase the 50 per cent limit of reservation.”

    The Centre had made it clear in the Parliament during the 102nd Constitution amendment that states’ rights will stay intact.

    However, the SC has said that states do not have the right to announce reservation, the former Maharashtra chief minister added.

    “The state government is only passing the buck on the Maratha quota issue,” he alleged.

    The top court had recently struck down the Maharashtra government’s decision to exceed 50 per cent reservation for Maratha community in education and jobs.

  • Journos must be treated as frontline staff for COVID-19 vaccination: Fadnavis

    Several media persons have succumbed to COVID-19 in the first and second waves of the pandemic, he said.

  • ‘Never allowed BJP to buy or give away Remdesivir’: Maharashtra minister counter Fadnavis

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Amid a political slugfest over Remdesivir, Maharashtra FDA Minister Rajendra Shingne has denied claims of the BJP that he had allowed the saffron party or any individual to purchase or distribute the injections, which are in high demand for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

    Shingne alleged the BJP was spreading wrong information even as he acknowledged that some leaders of the saffron party had approached him earlier on Remdesivir.

    “No organisation or political party has the permission to purchase or distribute Remdesivir in the name of helping COVID-19 patients. The party (BJP) is spreading unnecessarily wrong information in various forms of media,” the Foods and Drug Administration (FDA) minister told reporters on Tuesday night.

    Mumbai police had last Saturday questioned Rajesh Dokania, director of Daman-based Bruck pharma, over the alleged excess stock of the Remdesivir drug.

    However, the questioning took a political turn when senior BJP leaders, including former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar, rushed to the police station and questioned the police’s move to grill Dokania.

    Fadnavis had admitted that BJP leaders had contacted Bruck Pharma to supply the stock to Maharashtra as the state is facing a shortage of Remdesivir vials.

    “We even informed the state FDA minister (Shingne) about it and approached the Union government seeking necessary permissions. Some Maharashtra BJP leaders went to Daman recently to meet Bruck Pharma officials, requesting them to sell their exportable stock in Maharashtra,” he had said.

    Against this backdrop, Shingne said, “It is true that BJP leaders had approached me but I had not given any permission to the party or any individual to purchase or distribute Remdesivir injections”.

    The NCP, which is one of the constituents in the Shiv Sena-led MVA government, had on Sunday accused the BJP of trying to ensure that Maharashtra does not get Remdesivir stock, and wondered why state BJP leaders got scared when Mumbai police questioned Dokania.

  • Politics during pandemic: War of words between MVA, BJP over remdesivir ‘hoarding’; Goa CM asks Uddhav to withdraw ‘places of sensitive origin’ order

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil has threatened action against Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis for interference in the work of the police, who were questioning the director and owner of Bruck Pharma on alleged hoarding of Covid-19 drug Remdesivir. Fadnavis said he didn’t do any wrong and was ready to face a probe.

    Police were interrogating the official of the pharmaceutical company after around 60,000 vials of the Covid-19 drug were found in their possession. 

    It was learnt that this stock was to be exported, but could not be shipped after the Central government banned export of the drug.

    Walse Patil said policemen were questioning the Bruck Pharma director when Fadnavis and other BJP leaders went to the police station.

    “The BJP leaders wanted to rescue the Bruck Pharma owner and director and tried to pressurise the police and interfere in government work. We will consult the people concerned, our colleagues and action will be initiated against Fadnavis,” said Walse Patil.Fadnavis said he was clean.

    “I wanted Remdesivir for Maharashtra. I wanted to buy a large quantity and give it to the state government to supply to various hospitals. I am ready to face any probe,” the former chief minister said.

    NCP minister Nawab Malik said Fadnavis as an individual or BJP as a party has no right to buy this amount of Remdesivir. 

    “This is nothing but hoarding which is illegal as per law in a pandemic situation. Common people are struggling to get one, but Devendra Fadnavis wants to stock 50,000 to 60,000 vials. There is something fishy that the police will find out.”

    In response, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said Malik has lost his balance and is making wild allegations. He met Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and demanded the suspension of Malik from the MVA government.

    Meanwhile, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday said the distribution of Remdesivir injections has to be on the basis of need and asked the Centre and the Maharashtra government what parameters are followed while allocating the drug to different states and districts.

    A division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and S M Modak said if Maharashtra was contributing to 40 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in India, then the allocation of Remdesivir injections to the state should also be in the same percentage.

    Remdesivir is listed for use in serious COVID-19 patients.

    In view of a sudden spike in demand of the drug due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Centre last week banned its export till the situation improves.

    “If contribution towards COVID-19 cases is 40 per cent from Maharashtra, then it is only right to say that 40 per cent of Remdesivir injections are allotted to this state. The allocation has to be need-based and not on any other factors that are not relevant,” Justice Shukre said.

    The court directed the Union and the state governments to file their affidavits by April 21, pointing out the parameters followed for the regulation and distribution of Remdesivir vials.

    The court was hearing a bunch of petitions on the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of facilities in hospitals and the hurdles being faced by the public.

    The court also pulled up the Maharashtra government for “disparity and arbitrariness” while allotting vials of Remdesivir to different districts in the state.

    Advocate Tushar Mandlekar, appearing for a petitioner, informed the HC that the allocation of Remdesivir vials to Nagpur was less than what was allocated to Thane.

    “There appears to be a disparity and some arbitrariness in the distribution of Remdesivir vials to Nagpur district. The vials are not being released in proportion to the requirement,” the court said.

    The bench further said it did not understand the logic behind allotting over 5,000 vials of Remdesivir for around 2,000 beds in Thane, but allotting only about 3,000 vials of the drug for over 8,000 COVID-19 beds in Nagpur.

    It noted that on April 13 and April 18, not a single vial of Remdesivir was allotted to Nagpur and on April 17, only 500 vials were allotted.

    “This has severely affected the administration of health care to COVID-19 patients in Nagpur. The possibility of mortality because of lack of Remdesivir cannot be ruled out. It is the solemn duty of the state government to save and preserve each precious life,” the court said.

    The bench said the issue needs to be resolved on a “war-footing”, and directed the Maharashtra government to immediately release 10,000 vials of Remdesivir by Monday night to Nagpur district.

    “The COVID-19 scenario in Nagpur has turned to its worst. So much so that there are no beds available, no life saving measures available, lack of oxygen and also the dearth of medical and para-medical staff,” it said.

    “The spike in COVID-19 cases in Nagpur is steep and the situation was not so bad even in the first phase of the pandemic last year,” the court observed.

    Taking note of several COVID-19 patients waiting outside hospitals in Nagpur for admission, the HC directed the district collector and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s commissioner to set up temporary pandals outside those hospitals with drinking water facilities for such patients.

    Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday appealed to his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray to withdraw the order declaring five states, including Goa, and Delhi as places of “sensitive origin” in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases.

    The Maharashtra government on Sunday declared Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), Rajasthan and Uttarakhand as places of “sensitive origin” in a bid to “stop the influx of other COVID-19 virus variants into Maharashtra from other locations”.

    As per the order, passengers travelling to Maharashtra from these places will need a negative RT-PCR report of the test conducted within 48 hours of their train travel.

    “#COVID19 is a global pandemic. Let us put up a combined fight against this pandemic under the leadership of PM @narendramodi ji. I urge @CMOMaharashtra not to single out states as ‘Places of Sensitive Origin’ and withdraw the said order in the public interest,” Sawant tweeted.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Remdesivir row: Shiv Sena alleges bid to disturb law and health order

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Monday slammed BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar for objecting to Mumbai police’s grilling of a pharma firm’s top executive over alleged stocking of Remdesivir vials, and wondered if there was a conspiracy to disturb the law and health order.

    An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ accused the BJP of having a clear agenda that the Maharashtra government should fail in handling the COVID-19 situation, and charged it with making persistent efforts in that direction with the help of the Centre.

    It said the Maharashtra government and the opposition should be unanimous at least on the issue of saving lives of people and no one should seek political mileage out of pyres of people dying for want of the drug, which is in high demand for treating COVID-19 patients.

    Mumbai police questioned a pharma company director on Saturday following information that thousands of vials of Remdesivir were to be flown out of the country, despite a ban on its export.

    On learning that the company director was being questioned, former chief minister Fadnavis and another state BJP leader Darekar had rushed to the police station.

    ALSO READ: NSA to be invoked for illegal Remdesivir trade in Madhya Pradesh

    They said the BJP was reaching out to pharma companies due to the shortage of Remdesivir in the state.

    Fadnavis said it was their sincere attempt to get Remdesivar for Maharashtra.

    However, the editorial in ‘Saamana’ on Monday alleged that politics is being played on the issue of supply of oxygen and Remdesivir injections for treating COVID-19 patients.

    It said the Maharashtra government was not getting the Remdesivir injections, but BJP leaders were purchasing them unilaterally from pharma companies.

    It never happened in Maharashtra earlier that the Leader of Opposition advocated for a pharma company official instead of the state, the Sena said.

    “Isn’t there a conspiracy to trouble the law and health order?” it asked.

    The Sena claimed it is a “crime” on part of the companies to make available stock of the injections to the BJP unilaterally.

    It also questioned the BJP’s criticism of the government after the police exposed hoarding and black marketing by the companies.

    “What can the opposition leaders in the Assembly and Council rushing to a police station mid-night to seek release of a pharma company official be called?” the Shiv Sena asked.

    ALSO READ: Maha fight over ‘seizure’ of Remdesivir amidst COVID crisis

    The COVID-19 patients in Maharashtra and the country are feeling suffocated due to lack of oxygen and funeral pyres have been lit for the want of Remdesivir, it said.

    “Nobody should heat up (their) political pans on these pyres.

    The government and the opposition should behave unanimously at least on this issue,” the Marathi daily said.

    Union minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said Maharashtra has so far received the highest quantity of oxygen in India and the Centre is in regular touch with state governments to assess their needs.

    Referring to it, the Shiv Sena asked whether the Centre was doing any favour to Maharashtra by giving the highest quantity of oxygen.

    Maharashtra is making the highest contribution to the Centre’s coffers, the editorial said, adding that Delhi (the central government) will need oxygen support if this supply (of tax payment) is stopped (from the state).

    “When Maharashtra is facing a crisis, the Union minister is troubling Maharashtra by giving an account of how much has been given and taken (to the state). This is sort of staining the humanity,” it alleged.

  • Not afraid of inquiry: Ex-Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Remdesivir seizure issue

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is being targeted by the ruling parties in Maharashtra for objecting to Mumbai Police’s grilling of a pharma company’s top executive over alleged stocking of Remdesivir vials, on Sunday said he was not afraid of any inquiry against him as he has not done anything wrong.

    Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport on the issue of of questioning of Bruck Pharma company’s director over the Remdesivir stock, said, “I am not afraid of any inquiry because I have worked in the opposition for 20 years and have 36 cases against me for the sake of people.”

    He said that he would go to any limit to work in the interest of people of Maharashtra. “Yesterday’s incident was very unfortunate. We had not called those Remdesivir vials for the BJP, and (Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council) Pravin Darekar had met the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) minister that the Remdesivir injections will be handed over to the FDA and the municipal corporation,” he added.

    ALSO READ| Remdesivir seizure: BJP pressurising Mumbai police, alleges Maha Home Minister

    Doing politics over the issue was wrong, the former chief minister said, and alleged that false news was being spread that they possessed the stock of Remdesivir. “I challenge them to prove that we had the stock (of Remdesivir)..The DCP himself had said that we did not have any stock with us,” he said.

    Mumbai police on Saturday night questioned Rajesh Dokania, director of Bruck Pharma, a Daman-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company that manufactures Remdesivir vials, following information that thousands of vials of the Remdesivir drug critical in coronavirus treatment were to be flown out of the country.

    On learning about it, Fadnavis and Darekar had rushed to the police station.Their appearance at the police station has triggered a political slugfest between the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the opposition party over the paucity of healthcare supplies.

    ALSO READ| Remdesivir seizure: Police likely to quiz pharma company director again

    Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil on Sunday accused the BJP of trying to pressurise the Mumbai police and interefere in their work, while the state Congress president Nana Patole demanded action against Fadnavis and Darekar for “pressurising the police to let off” the pharma company director, who is suspected of hoarding Remdesivir injection stock.

  • ‘Uddhav government harassing Remdesivir supplier because BJP approached him’: Fadnavis

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis has alleged the state government was harassing a supplier of Remdesivir from neighbouring union territory Daman because BJP leaders had approached him for supply of the antiviral medication to the state.

    Speaking to reporters late on Saturday night, Fadnavis said: “Daman-based Bruck Pharma Pvt Ltd was one of the exporters of Remdesivir, whom we (BJP leaders) had contacted to supply the stock to Maharashtra as the state is facing shortage of Remdesivir vials. We have even informed the state FDA minister (Rajendra Shingne) about it and approached the union government seeking necessary permissions.”

    Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Pravin Darekar and MLC Prasad Lad few days ago went to Daman to meet the officials of Bruck Pharma, requesting them to sell their exportable stock into Maharashtra, Fadnavis said.

    “They were told by the company that if the centre and state approve it, they will sell their entire stock to Maharashtra,” he said.

    “Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandviya has also given necessary orders enabling the sale of exportable stock of Remdesivir in Maharashtra. However, I was shocked to find (out) that one of the OSDs (officer on special duty) of the state FDA Minister had contacted the owner of Bruck Pharma and allegedly threatened him, over him approaching the centre on the suggestions of BJP leaders,” Fadnavis said.

    He said such behaviour cannot be tolerated.

    When contacted, a senior state police official said, “A director of a pharma company, which supplies Remdesivir, was questioned by the police in connection with the stock of the vials.”

    “On the specific information, police apprehended the pharma company director at Vile Parle in Western Suburbs,” an official said.

    “He is a manufacturer and was in the business of exporting the Remdesivir vials,” he said.

    “After the export was banned, he had stocked at least 60,000 vials. The state and central government has given him permission to sell it in the market,” he said.

    “As there was not any violation, Mumbai police did not take any legal action against him. He was questioned about the stock, following which he produced necessary documents,” the official said.

    After getting information on the development, BJP leaders, including Fadnavis and Darekar, rushed to the Bandra Kurla Complex around midnight to meet Deputy Commissioner of Police in this connection.

    The political slugfest started on Saturday morning when State Minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged the Centre was pressurising some Remdesivir producers to not sell their stock in Maharashtra.

    Joining state BJP leaders, two central ministers hit back at the Maharashtra government, calling these allegations “a lie” and termed them an attempt to politicise the pandemic.

    Fadnavis, who was holding meetings in hometown Nagpur, flew to Mumbai and joined his party colleagues who got wind of the state FDA taking action against Remdesivir suppliers having exportable stock of the vials.

    The meeting went on for an hour at Vile Parle police station.

    Speaking to reporters later, Fadnavis said, “Malik and some ministers have nothing to do with the troubles of people suffering from coronavirus pandemic. They are more interested in indulging in politics.”

    “Malik even spread false information and tried to set a narrative against the union government. Even Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked Malik to prove his claims, he could not do so. Every state department has now come up with similar instructions of asking the companies to sell their Remdesivir stock in its jurisdiction. It is a known procedure,” he said.

    “This is the time when centre and state should work in tandem, but few ministers are more interested in playing politics,” he said.

    “We have even helped the Bruck Pharma to get tied up with Dr Reddy’s Lab so that they could sell their stock in the local market. But the head of Bruck Pharma was threatened by an OSD. We have the call recording of the OSD as well,” he alleged.

    “Around 9 pm, some 10 police officers went to his home and detained the official of Bruck Pharma. When we showed police the letters of the permissions to Bruck Pharma of permission to sell it in Maharashtra, the police claimed that they had no clue of such a document even existed. Now the director of Bruck Pharma is released by the police,” Fadnavis said.

    “Minister Mandviya had even suggested the company to sell its entire stock in Maharashtra. But some politicians are playing politics over it,” he said.

  • Shiv Sena, NCP slam Devendra Fadnavis for ‘campaigning against Marathi candidate’ in Belgaum

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Two constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Shiv Sena and NCP – on Friday criticised BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for “campaigning against a Marathi-speaking candidate” for the Lok Sabha bypoll in Karnataka’s Belgaum, which continues to remain at the centre-stage of the decades-old border dispute between the two neighbouring states.

    The parliamentary bypoll, which was necessitated following the death of Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi due to COVID-19 last year, will be held on Saturday.

    While Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that political leaders from Maharashtra should not campaign against a Marathi-speaking candidate in Belgaum, Maharashtra NCP president and state Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil accused the BJP of betraying the Marathi people of that city in Karnataka.

    The bypoll will witness a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress, while the Shiv Sena is supporting the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) candidate Shubham Shelke.

    Talking to reporters here on Friday, Raut who campaigned for Shelke, said that for 65 years, the MES has symbolised the struggle of the Marathi-speaking people in Belgaum.

    “At least Marathi politicians from Maharashtra should not campaign against a Marathi candidate in Belgaum,” he said.

    Raut was referring to Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis, who campaigned against Shelke.

    “Fadnavis has been a former chief minister of Maharashtra. During his tenure, the MES leaders had met him and he had assured them that the Maharashtra government and the BJP were firmly with the MES on the merger of the Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka into Maharashtra.

    But he is taking a different stand now.

    The NCP campaigned for Shelke and even Congress leaders from Maharashtra, although their party candidate is also in the fray there, campaigned for Shelke,” he claimed.

    Under Fadnavis’s tenure as CM, a resolution seeking the merger of Belgaum and other areas into Maharashtra was passed, the Sena leader said, adding, “He had also assured support to the MES. But now he has taken a different stand.”

    When asked about the COVID-19 restrictions imposed in Maharashtra by the MVA government, Raut said, “Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been very mild. He is very disturbed about loss of livelihood to several people because of the curbs. But people shouldn’t force him to impose harsher curbs. The chief minister has shown his humane side by the current restrictions. The coronavirus situation in the state is not good.”

    Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Belgaum, NCP’s Jayant Patil pledged his party’s support to MES candidate Shelke.

    “When the BJP was in power for five years in Maharashtra, Fadnavis neglected the demands of the MES and now he has campaigned against their candidate. Fadnavis has proved that he is against the Marathi people, and he has hurt their sentiments,” he said.

    Patil said his party has always stood for the unity of Marathi people in Belgaum and the state of Maharashtra.

    “Fadnavis is always busy pleasing his party bosses in Delhi. We experience this in Maharashtra as well. For coronavirus management or any other issue of Maharashtra, he should support the state government, but that doesn’t happen,” the minister said.

    The MES had earlier contested the Lok Sabha polls to highlight the issues of Marathi people in Belgaum.

    “We are confident that Shelke, a young Marathi candidate, will highlight in the Parliament the issues of Marathi-speaking people there,” he said.

  • Lockdown leads to loss of jobs, Maharashtra govt not providing people support: Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI
    PUNE: Stating that people lose their jobs when a lockdown is imposed, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday alleged the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is not serious about providing any financial aid to the vulnerable sections.

    Taking a dig at the state government amid talks that an extended lockdown is imminent in Maharashtra in view of a steep rise in COVID-19 cases, Fadnavis said there is a “lockshahi” in the state now instead of ‘lokshahi’ (democracy).

    The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly was addressing a rally for the upcoming bypoll to Pandharpur-Mangalvedha Assembly constituency in Solapur district.

    The BJP has fielded Samadhan Autade against Bhagirath Bhalke, son of late MLA Bharat Bhalke, of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the April 17 contest.

    “When this government came into power, it was called as Maha Vikas Aghadi but now it has become a ‘Maha Vasooli (extortion) Aghadi’.

    The way they have started the vasooli from police, farmers and the common man, it shows that all the three ruling parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) have only one agenda and that is to collect money from wherever itis possible,” he alleged.

    Fadnavis was referring to the allegations of corruption raised by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh against then home minister Anil Deshmukh, an NCP stalwart.

    The former chief minister also said the highest number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities are being reported from Maharashtra.

    “In the last ten days, 50 to 55 per cent of the total deaths in the country were reported from Maharashtra.

    Similarly, 60 per cent of the total cases in the country were also reported from Maharashtra,” he said.

    Fadnavis said, “I can understand locking and unlocking (to contain the spread of coronavirus) is important but when a lockdown is imposed, people lose their jobs.

    Unfortunately, the state government is not at all conscious about providing financial help to the (vulnerable) people”.

    He said governments in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have helped the common man and farmers.

    “It is the responsibility of the state government to help the people in distress but this (MVA) government, instead of helping people, is recovering power bills from them like the ‘Jizya’ tax that used to be imposed in the Mughals era,” Fadnavis said.

    He said the state government has stopped disconnecting power connections of people (who have failed to clear their dues) due to this byelection.

    “But you will see that the government will resume snapping power connections after the bypoll is conducted on April 17,” he claimed.

    Fadnavis said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the communists and the Congress will receive a big jolt on May 2 when results of the assembly polls held in five states will be out.

    Speaking at another campaign rally, Fadanvis said, “People may think what difference a bypoll will make to change the state government. Leave it to me when to change this government. We will change that, but for now, this bypoll is important as the people of this constituency have got the opportunity to show the government its place”.