Amid blame game over COVID-19 mitigation efforts in the state, especially a shortage of vaccines, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Maharashtra has never lagged behind in its fight against COVID and it will certainly not happen in the future.

He made the remark during an online interaction with Modi, a day after Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan claimed that misgovernance, utter casual approach and lackadaisical attitude of the state government bogged down the entire nation’s efforts to contain the spread. Thackeray asked Modi to advise leaders to stop politicising the pandemic.