Sanjay Raut says Centre discrediting Maharashtra, states with non-BJP govts 'for not controlling pandemic'

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday slammed the Centre saying that it is discrediting the Maharashtra government in controlling the pandemic because it is not a BJP-ruled state.

Speaking to here today, Raut said, "I see a big reason to discredit Maharashtra. Where there is no BJP Government, the state government is said to have failed in controlling coronavirus. Where there is a BJP chief minister, there is no coronavirus."

His remarks came days after Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan accused the Maharashtra government of "misgovernance" in tackling COVID-19, saying that it has followed "utterly casual approach" and is putting the residents in danger "by letting people escape institutional quarantine mandate for the sake of their personal vasuli".

In a statement, the Health Minister said he had seen statements made by public representatives in Maharashtra about the shortage of vaccines and asserted that it was nothing but "an attempt to divert attention from Maharashtra government's repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic".

The minister said the "lackadaisical attitude of the state government has singularly bogged down the entire country's efforts to fight the virus" and the lack of efforts of the part of the state government "is now clearly visible and come to haunt us all".He accused the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra of focusing its energies on "playing politics and spreading lies to create pc".Speaking about the spike in the number of COVID cases across the country, Raut said, "The failure belongs to the central government.This battle is being fought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."Taking a dig at the BJP after the Gujarat party president CR Patil announced that 5,000 doses of Remdesivir would be made available free of cost by the party in Surat amid reports of Gujarat facing a shortage of the same in the state, Raut said BJP headuarters in Gujarat are getting as much vaccine as they want but the same is being denied to Maharashtra."The BJP headquarters in Gujarat are getting as much doses of Remdesivir as they want but it is not being made available to the Maharashtra government," he added. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases continued to increase at an alarming rate in Maharashtra with as many as 63,294 new infections and 349 deaths reported on Sunday, the state health department said.There were 5,65,587 active cases in the state. A total of 27,82,161 recoveries and 57,987 deaths were reported in the state on Sunday.

( With inputs from ANI )