Maharashtra: cases filed against union minister, BJP leaders

With the onset of festival seasons, Maharashtra is celebrating politcal games. Main plolitical players were the BJP and the ruling MVA. This and more in this week's Maharashtra round up.

Police cases against BJP leaders

First of all,filing of FIRs agaist union ministers. As per high command's  directives, the BJP organised Jan Aashirwad Yatras in all over India from August 16 to 22. But in Maharashtra the yatra bacame a political target. Union MSME minister Narain Rane started his yatras in different districts of the state. According to information a total of 42 FIRs have been filed so far against Rane for holding public gatherings amid the pandemic and breaking COVID-19 rules. The Maharashtra government has been saying that permission was not granted for this 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' of the BJP leaders, especially Narayan Rane's event. In the same violations 36 FIRs has been registered against various BJP leaders in Maharashtra. The NCP, which is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, on Friday hit out at the BJP, saying that the leaders of that party were taking out ''Jan Ashirwad'' yatras across the country with elections in mind, although there was a threat of the third wave of coronavirus pandemic. 

Purification of Bala Saheb memorial

This is another high tempered incident occured in Maharashtra. Union minister Narain Rane on Wednesday visited the Bala Saheb Thakarey Memorial topay his  homage in Mumbai. But the ruling Shiv Sena did not like it and hours after his diparture a  group of Shiv Sainiks arrived at the venue and “purified” the edifice with ‘gomutra’ (cow urine) and performed milk ‘abhishek’. Agin BJP lashed out the Shive Sena. Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said it is strange that the party is sharing power with the people who tried to imprison Balasaheb and are attacking those who have been paying respects to him. He further said that whoever indulged in purification did not understand the original Shiv Sena and termed the action as an indication of narrow mindedness of the party. Rane also said that purification is not going to help if there was a defect in someone’s mindset. Calling the “purification bid” drama, BJP leaders Ashish Shelar and Ram Kadam said that the Shiv Sena needed “purification” from its alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.

Second Covid wave under control

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday informed that the second wave of Covid-19 is under control in the state. As per the official statement by the Chief Minister's office, zero active cases of Covid-19 were reported in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on Wednesday and districts like Dhule, Washim, Yavatmal, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia have less than 10 active cases. Districts namely Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli have less than 100 active cases currently. After the cabinet meeting, the CMO stated that the second wave of the Covid-19 infection has come under control in the state and that this has been possible because of cooperation from citizens alongwith various measures taken by the state health department. The average weekly positivity rate of the state has come down to 2.44 per cent and in the last few days. The growth rate in Ratnagiri and Kolhapur district was alarming but now that has also been come down to 2.44 per cent, as per the official statement by the government.However, Satara, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Pune, Osmanabad, Solapur and Sindhudurg logged a gradual increase in the number of daily cases. 

CM attends meeting called by Sonia Gandhi 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday attended the virtual  meeting of opposition leaders convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. During the meeting, Uddhav Thackeray stressed that the parties must win people's trust. He urged the opposition parties to win people's trust and also called upon them to stay united and strong. The meeting was attended by leaders of 19 opposition parties, including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and four non-Congress chief ministers - TMC's Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), DMK's M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu) and JMM's Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Uddhav Thackeray.

Deshmukh again skips ED

Maharashtra's former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said he will appear before the ED, which had summoned him in connection with its probe into a money laundering case, "after the legal process is completed".  Deshmukh in a statement claimed the "Supreme Court has accepted his plea on the ED and it will be heard soon". Deshmukh in his statement said the top court on Monday allowed him to move a lower court as well for lawful remedies under the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code). Deshmukh skipped appearing before the ED for the firth time on Wednesday and had stated that he was taking recourse to "lawful remedies" for the protection of his liberty. Deshmukh had also said he was a "law abiding citizen" as he requested the agency to record his statement through an electronic medium, till the time "appropriate orders are passed by court(s)".