Maharashtra Senior Deputy Minister Ajit Pawar and Opposition Leader Devendra Fadnavis in Pune.
Pune:
Maharashtra’s Senior Deputy Minister Ajit Pawar and Assembly Opposition Leader Devendra Fadnavis were seen together today at the opening of a COVID-19 hospital in the Baner area of Pune.
The two had met on November 23 last year when Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Pawar as his deputy in a morning ceremony. Pawar, a stalwart of the NCP, broke ranks to join the BJP leader to form a government after the BJP clashed with Shiv Sena.
However, the rule of BJP-Ajit Pawar lasted only 80 hours, after which he returned to the fold of the NCP and became a cabinet minister in the dispensation led by Shiv Sena.
On Friday, Pawar and Fadnavis stood side by side and headed to the meeting in Baner.
Ajit Pawar, who is also the Pune District Guardian Minister, said 2,200 hospital beds have been added in recent days for the treatment of coronavirus patients in the city and neighboring Pimpri Chinchwad.
Referring to the phase 3 human trial of the Oxford vaccine that began in Pune earlier this week, he expressed confidence that there will soon be “an affirmative image in the state and the country.”
Mr. Fadnavis said that an average of 15,000 new cases are reported every day in Maharashtra.
“The main concern is that the infection positivity rate is still 19 to 19.5 percent. According to the ICMR, it should be 5% and where there is a high (rate) of infection, it should be 10%.” , said. said.
The BJP leader also said that the state accounts for nearly 40 percent of coronavirus deaths in the country. “Given that our current death rate is still 3.2 percent, above the national average, it is cause for concern,” said Fadnavis.
The BJP Head of State and Kothrud MLA Chandrakant Patil and the Mayor of Pune, Murlidhar Mohol, were also present at the event.
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