Rahul Gandhi speaks with CM Uddhav Thackeray, assures complete support of Congress

Mumbai: A day after creating a flutter with his statement about the Maharashtra government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday spoke with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to clear the air of uncertainty. He also offered complete support of his party to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

As the reports of President’s rule being imposed in Maharashtra surfaced, Gandhi, while speaking in New Delhi on Tuesday, had said that Congress was only a supporting partner of the MVA government and not a key decision-maker in Maharashtra.

Gandhi’s statement had led to speculations that he was not happy with the functioning of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. The MVA ruling alliance consists of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress.

According to Shiv Sena sources, the Congress leader spoke with the CM on Wednesday morning and told him that his statement was taken out of proportion and the Congress is with the MVA government.

“Explaining his stand behind the statement, Gandhi said what he meant was Maharashtra is one of the most important states in the country and it should be given due importance in the fight against coronavirus. The Congress fully supports every decision of the MVA government,” said a Sena leader.

Thackeray also assured him that the Congress will be given equal importance in the functioning as well as in the decision making of the government, he added.

Meanwhile, the three parties of the MVA held a meeting at the chief minister’s official residence ‘Varsha’ to take stock of the current situation in Maharashtra. The leaders also discussed the future course of action to curb the spread of coronavirus and the procedure to lift restrictions after May 31. Surprisingly, the meeting was not attended by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The NCP, a key constituent of the MVA, has been pitching for resuming business activities in a phased manner to bring back on track the state's economy which has been hit by the lockdown.

A Cabinet minister said that officials, including the chief secretary and BMC commissioner, have given a detailed presentation to the ministers of how they are planning to curb the virus in Mumbai. The ministers directed the authorities to make the arrangement for ventilators well in advance.

Coming heavily on the Centre and the state BJP leaders for not providing the required help during this trying times, the MVA government ministers refuted all claims of the BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab, who was accompanied by Jayant Patil and Balasaheb Thorat, said that the state government was supposed to get Rs 42,000 crore from the Union government, but has received no funds so far.

The MVA government response came following a statement made by Fadnavis on Tuesday that the Centre had provided Rs 28,104 crores to Maharashtra for its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.