Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has advised Maharashtra Chief Minister to step out of his house and tour other parts of the state to take stock of the COVID-19 situation.
In his recent interview with a Marathi channel, Pawar said he had no objection with Thackeray working from home but a Chief Minister needs to go around the state to review the coronavirus situation and meet people.
“I don’t mind Uddhav Thackeray working from one place, but being the head of government he also needs to visit other places in the state. He is expected to meet people and take them into confidence. I don’t think this is happening as of now,” Pawar asserted.
Pawar is the chief architect of three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra. His remarks came after Thackeray in an interview with ‘Saamana’ defended his working style saying that he is using technology to monitor the situation amid the pandemic.
Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had attacked Thackeray for not stepping out of ‘Matoshree’ and has confined himself to video conferences. BJP MP Narayan Rane had said that the Chief Minister was not aware of the ground realities.
Over opposition’s criticism of the MVA government, Pawar attacked senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis saying that the three parties - Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP - were able to come to power because of Fadnavis’ unbalanced work during his tenure as the CM.
He also alleged that Fadnavis was upset because he lacks power and the MVA government seems strong. He was in a hurry to topple the government but the MVA will complete its five-year term, Pawar asserted.
The NCP supremo denied that the remote control of the MVA government was not in his hands and said that the major decisions are taken by the Chief Minister after due consultation with the allies.
“Although Uddhav Thackeray takes all the policy decisions, he works together with all his colleagues and takes them in confidence,” Pawar added.
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