Upping the ante over the ill-health of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray once again, the Opposition BJP on Friday asked him to step aside and hand over his post to someone elsewhere till his health condition improved.
The BJP’s demand should be seen in the context of the fact that Uddhav -- who has been recouping from the cervical spine surgery that he underwent at HN Reliance Hospital here on November 12 – did not attend the Covid-19 review meeting through video conferencing called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, owing to health reasons.
Talking to media persons at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, State BJP president Chandrakant Patil said: “The State Health Minister has said that the chief minister did not attend the Covid-19 review meeting called by the Prime Minister as he cannot sit at one place for two to two and a half hours. That being the case, Uddhav Thackeray should hand over the chief minister’s responsibility to someone else in the party till recovers fully from his illness”.
“People are saying that the chief minister has not met people for almost 70 days now. That being the case, Uddhav Thackeray should delegate his powers to someone who can attend daily meetings and sometimes visit some places in the state,” Patil said.
“He ( the chief minister) is like our friend, so I wish him a speedy recovery. However, the task of administering the state, which has a population of around 12 crore, cannot be done just by sitting at home. Such responsibilities should be taken more seriously,” the state chief said.
On Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s criticism of the BJP, Patil said: “Raut should understand that the Sena is losing due to this coalition government. A Shiv Sena candidate cannot win the election of Mumbai cooperative Bank, whereas an NCP candidate becomes its chairman.”
Referring to the NCP’s decision to contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Patil said: “If Sena is contesting upcoming elections in Goa and Uttar Pradesh, it is merely to win a certain number of votes in order to get the tag of a national party. You need to get a certain number of votes in more than one state to get such recognition”.
Patil had made a similar demand that Uddhav should step aside from his chief minister’s post till he recovers fully from his cervical spine surgery that he underwent at HN Reliance Hospital two months ago.
The reiteration of his demand by Patil comes a week after the a BJP social media functionary Jiten Gajaria had sparked a controversy by putting out an “objectionable” tweet describing Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray as “Marathi Rabri Devi” .
In his tweet put out along with photograph of Rashmi Thackeray, Gajaria had likened her to Bihar’s former chief minister Rabri Devi, who had taken over the reins of the northern state after her husband and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav resigned in the wake of his involvement in the fodder scam.Through his tweet, Gajaria had indirectly referred to the health issues faced by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.