Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday rejected rumblings that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, predicting instead that it will ‘fall under its own weight’. “No one is trying to weaken the state government, it will fall under its own weight,” the former Maharashtra chief minister was reported as saying by news agency Asian News International (ANI).
The BJP leader’s remarks came during a video conference.
Fadnavis reasoned that, since, the coronavirus situation in Maharashtra was ‘serious’, any attempt to de-stabilise the government could have adverse consequences for the overall coronavirus response.
Fadnavis complained that the state authorities had failed to utilise the COVID-19 relief package by the Centre, as he called upon the Uddhav Thackeray to take ‘bold decisions.’ “I really don’t understand what the priority of the state government is. Today, the state needs assertive leadership. I expect Uddhav ji to take bold decisions,” he said.
The remarks by Fadnavis came a day after another former chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP from the state, Narayan Rane, called upon the Governor to impose President’s Rule in Maharashtra, owing to the worsening coronavirus graph.
A third of India’s 1.45 lakh coronavirus infections have surfaced from the western state, making it the worst-hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.