03 March,2021 07:00 AM IST | Mumbai | PTI
Devendra Fadnavis. File Pic
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday alleged corruption in the measures taken by the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government in handling the COVID-19 situation in the state.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, the Leader of the Opposition also referred to a Central survey and said the number of COVID-19 deaths in Maharashtra could have been lesser by 30,900 and the cases by 9.55 lakh had the state government handled the situation properly.
Maharashtra's caseload is 21,61,467 and the fatality count is 52,184 as on March 1, as per state Health department.
Launching a broadside against the state government on various issues, Fadnavis wondered why an FIR was not registered in connection with the death of a Pune-based woman and accused the government of pressuring the police.
The death of the 23-year-old woman has triggered a huge political row in the state with the BJP alleging the link of Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Rathod to the incident. Rathod resigned as Forest minister on Sunday but denied all allegations against him.
Fadnavis also demanded suspension of a police inspector who is investigating the case.
He said the condition of law and order in the state is "not worth talking".
Fadnavis, a former chief minister, said 12 audio clips are available in connection with the woman's death but the police have not taken any action so far.
"Despite these proofs, the police are not acting. I demand that the police inspector concerned be immediately suspended. We are proud of Maharashtra Police, but police never accepted such helplessness....Such pressure of then government on the police!.....you (government) don't even
register an FIR in the case despite having details of the incident," he alleged.
On Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu's suggestion that Fadnavis should also speak about Dadra and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar's alleged suicide case, the BJP leader said that case too definitely should be talked about.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said he will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to direct the authorities in Dadra and Nagar Haveli to cooperate with Mumbai police in the probe in Delkar's death.
Delkar, seven-term MP from the Union Territory, was found dead in a south Mumbai hotel room on February 22. A suicide note in Gujarati was also found at the spot.
Fadnavis also attacked the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Sena, NCP and Congress over the speech delivered by former AMU student leader Sharjeel Usmani at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune in January this year.
He said the government should feel "ashamed" that Usmani came to Maharashtra and allegedly made objectionable comments about Hindus.
Fadnavis read out Usmani's reported comments in the House and asked, "Is this the condition of Hindus? Can they be talked about like this?"
He also hit out at state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh who had said that Usmani will be arrested from wherever he is.
"You sounded a bugle saying he (Usmani) will be traced from wherever he is. He (Usmani) said it (delivered the speech) under your watch. Not only that, the organisers of the Elgar Parishad too defended Sharjeel's comments. You (government) should feel ashamed if Hindus are talked about
like this," Fadnavis said.
The BJP leader said an outfit 'Sikhs for Justice' recently wrote a letter to chief ministers of Maharashtra and West Bengal allegedly asking them to declare independence of the two states.
"Such outfits need not be entertained," he added.
Alleging corruption in the measures initiated by the state government in handling the pandemic situation, the former CM alleged that a racket recently came to light in Amravati district in Vidarbha region wherein a person was declared infected by coronavirus despite testing negative.
"In Navi Mumbai, 7,800 individuals were shown COVID-19 positive without conducting any tests," he alleged.
Fadnavis reiterated that the state has consistently been conducting less COVID-19 tests.
"There was corruption even during the COVID-19 period," he alleged.
Criticising the government over the Aarey metro car shed issue, Fadnavis said the MVA government should not delay the project and not do injustice to the people of Mumbai.
He said it was serious that the state government had denied permission to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to use its plane earlier last month when the latter was scheduled to travel to Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
"There were differences between the Governors and governments in the past too. But no previous government showed this narrow-mindedness. Denying permission to use the government plane to the governor was very serious," he added.
In view of the denial of permission, Koshyari had to take a commercial flight to travel to Dehradun at the last moment.
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