Uddhav Thackeray Holds Meeting With Aghadi Partners

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the Shiv Sena supremo called a meeting with partners of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress on Wednesday morning. The meeting is currently on at Uddhav Thackeray's bungalow. Media reports state that Uddhav Thackeray plans to discuss ongoing lockdown and the possibility of lifting it in some areas, with his alliance partners.

With Maharashtra turning into the biggest Coronavirus hotspot in the country, Uddhav Thackeray's handling of the situation has come under a lot of criticism, especially from the BJP. However his alliance partners NCP and Congress have backed him to a very large extent.

With BJP chief in the state and former chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis constantly sniping at the MVA government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis in Maharashtra, there have also been fears that another 'Operation Lotus' could be afoot.

The healthcare system in Maharashtra has been badly tested, as it has been, in other states of the country. The state is grappling with rising numbers of Coronavirus positive cases with the tally now reaching 54,758. Maharashtra's death count has climbed to 1,792.

Mumbai continues to be the biggest single urban hotspot in the country with a total number of 32,791 cases. The Maximum City has also attracted a lot of media glare for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic in the state, and elsewhere in the country, shows no signs of abating and experts predict that the worst might hit us in June and extend up to July. Under these trying circumstances the Uddhav Thackeray government finds itself fighting the COVID-19 battle, as also on a political one.

Rahul Gandhi's statement on Tuesday that the Congress was not in a decision-making position in Maharashtra has not helped matters either. The Congress leader, in his media interaction, tried to explain that there was a difference between running a government and supporting one. Rahul Gandhi has been accused by the BJP of distancing himself from the Maharashtra government in which his party MLAs are ministers.