Devendra Fadnavis slams Maharashtra government's handling of Covid-19 situation in a letter to Sonia Gandhi

Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party`s Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis. Photo: AFP

Marking an unprecedented step, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party's Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis here on Saturday shot off a detailed letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi highlighting the acts of commission and omission by the state government in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

Fadnavis said he felt compelled to pen the letter after Sonia Gandhi's recent letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the reactions of various Congress leaders and since she was not apprised of certain issues pertaining to the same which he sought to highlight.

In the 4-pager letter in Hindi, the BJP leader has targeted the Congress, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state and sought to defend the Centre and Modi.

Among other things, Fadnavis has stated how Maharashtra continues to account for 22 per cent of the Covid-19 spread, which was earlier over 30 per cent, the state has 31 per cent of the total national death toll, and 14 per cent of all active cases in the country, and 22 per cent of the deaths in the ongoing second wave.

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Fadnavis points out that though there is no BJP government in the state, the Centre has been giving full help to Maharashtra by way of 1.80 crore vaccine doses, 800,000-plus Remdesivir injections, 1,750 tonnes of oxygen, and other assistance, but in order to hide their shortcomings, some leaders keep targeting the Modi government.

He also attacked the MVA for allegedly suppressing figures of cases/fatalities, including Mumbai - (whose example was recently praised by the Centre and courts) - and demanded to know whether "hiding 9603 deaths in 2020 was a form of 'Maharashtra Model' practiced here".

The state BJP leader also dwelt on how the state is ignoring the rural hinterland where many requirements are still lacking, rampant blackmarketing of Remdesivir, the lockdown periods have been extended, budget figures are being manipulated in the name of elusive aid packages for the affected sections of the population.

Asking Sonia Gandhi and others to first check the status in her party ruled states before criticising Modi, Fadnavis claimed that merely criticising the Centre or each other in these times critical times would not help, and he was merely trying to point out certain things without politicking.

Lavishing praise on the PM, he said the whole world is watching how he's handling the Covid crisis in the country, how the world is helping out India and now the Congress should stop indulging in politics since "it's the public, and they know everything".