Devendra Fadnavis is arguably the most active leader of the opposition in the country. From exposing the extortion by NCP leaders to revealing the hoarding of Remdesivir, he has kept a constant check on the functioning of the Maharashtra government. Rattled by Fadnavis’ pro-activeness, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Agahadi (MVA) government is now desperately trying to take him down.
Congress reportedly got RTI activist Saket Gokhale to write to Chief Minister Uddhav Thakeray for inquiry against Fadnavis because BJP purchased Remdesivir from Bruck pharmaceutical limited to distribute it among the needy amid the Maharashtra government’s inefficiency and inability to procure and supply the drug.
Last night, Vile Parle police station in Mumbai seized 4.75 crores worth of Remdesivir vials that were being secretly moved by a Gujarat company.
Suddenly, @Dev_Fadnavis shows up at the police station late night & says BJP ordered those vials from Daman & Gujarat.
(1/5)
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) April 18, 2021
“We meant to give it to the state government. It would have been like a charitable contribution from us to the people of Maharashtra. But the state government would rather let people die due to a drug shortage than accept any help from the BJP,” said BJP leader Prasad Lad.
Moreover, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Minister Rajendra Shingne said that he knew that BJP purchased the drug from its coffers to distribute it among the people, but the Maharashtra Police, very quickly, arrested the supplier in order to allegedly throw Fadnavis under the bus. The Maharashtra government seems ready to go to any extent in order to frame the most vocal opposition leader of the country, who has become a roadblock for Shiv Sena officials.
Previously Fadnavis had warned about the malpractice over a week ago and had slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for not curbing black marketing.
“Remdesivir injections are being sold in the state through the black market. The government should get injections from the states where the situation is under control. It should also take strict action against all those who are involved in black marketing,” Fadnavis had said.
Moreover, the fact that news reports of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) allegedly purchasing Remdesivir injections at double the rate of the quoted price has also not helped the deteriorating image of the MVA government.
Since the pandemic started, the Shiv Sena officials have allegedly used the Covid rules and regulations, as well as public expenditure on Covid, as a money minting machine to siphon off thousands of crores of rupees for the party as well as for themselves.
Instead of owning its shortcomings, leaders in the MVA government have resorted to playing the time-consuming blame game. While Remdesivir injections are in short supply, the state with the highest caseload is reportedly suffering from a lack of hospital beds as the entire sector has been put under tremendous stress and is on the verge of collapsing.
Many of the alleged scams of the Maharashtra government are regularly being reported and brought to the conscience of the larger public, thanks to the pro-activeness of Devendra Fadnavis. He has become the roadblock against the Shiv Sena officials who are allegedly trying to mint millions out of people’s misery. And, this is the reason that the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government is trying to take him down with little help from activists of the Congress party like Saket Gokhale.