Sanjay Raut blames 'Namaste Trump' event for COVID-19 spread

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday alleged that the event held in Ahmedabad to welcome US President Donald Trump in February was responsible for the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat and later in Mumbai and Delhi which some of his delegates had visitedRaut also hit out at the Centre saying that the lockdown was implemented without any planning but now the responsibility of lifting the curbs was left to the states The Sena MP said that despite the opposition BJPs attempts to pull down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi MVA government there was no threat to it as its survival is the majboori compulsion of all the three ruling allies Sena NCP and CongressIt cant be denied that the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat was because of the massive public gathering held to welcome US President Donald Trump Some of the delegates who accompanied Trump also visited Mumbai Delhi which led to the spread of the virus Raut said in his weekly column in Shiv Sena mouthpiece SaamanaOn February 24 Trump along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken part in a roadshow in Ahmedabad which was attended by thousands of people After the road show the two leaders had addressed a gathering of over one lakh people at Motera cricket stadium run by Gujarat Cricket Association GCA Gujarat had reported its first coronavirus cases on March 20 when samples of a man from Rajkot and a woman from Surat tested positive for the diseaseRaut said that any move to pull down the Uddhav Thackerayled MVA government and impose Presidents rule in the state citing its failure to curb the coronavirus pandemic would be suicidal The state had witnessed how Presidents rule was imposed and lifted as per will six months ago he said If the handling of coronavirus cases is the basis of imposing Presidents rule then it should be done in at least 17 states including the BJPruled ones Even the central government has failed to curb the pandemic as it had no planning to fight the virus he saidThe lockdown was imposed without any planning and now without any plan the responsibility of lifting it has been left to the states This chaos will further worsen the crisis he said The Sena MP said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made an excellent analysis of how the lockdown has failed It is shocking that people can indulge in politics by demanding Presidents rule in Maharashtra for the rise in the coronavirus cases he saidBJP MP Narayan Rane had recently met Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and demanded imposition of Presidents rule in view of the the Shiv Senaled state governments failure in tackling the coronavirus pandemic However the BJP had later said that it was not trying to destabilise the government Speaking about the stability of the government Raut said that the survival of the MVA government was the majboori compulsion of each of the three alliance partners Even if there are internal conflicts among the ruling partners there is no threat to the government as the allies know that its survival is the majboori of each one of them Raut said He said that the Devendra Fadnavisled government in which the BJP and Shiv Sena shared power saw internal conflicts between the ruling allies but it completed its full fiveyear term Slamming Fadnavis who is now the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly for predicting downfall of the MVA government saying it will fall on its own due to its internal bickeringIf the Fadnavis government which witnessed deep internal conflicts between BJP and Sena didnt fall how can this one collapse The Fadnavis government survived despite the Sena ministers carrying their resignation letters in their pockets Raut wroteFadnavis in an online media interaction held earlier recently said he had no intention to destabilise the MVA government and said it would collapse on its own What Fadnavis means is that all attempts of the BJP to create discord among the three allies and break the MLAs has failed Now the opposition hopes that something would happen among the allies and the government would be fall apart he saidRaut said NCP president Sharad Pawar is the prominent leader who laid the foundation stone of the Thackeray sarkar and only he can predict the future of the government He continues to say the government is stable and even the Congress is not going anywhere MVA legislators are not up for sale in horsetrading Hence if the opposition says that the government will fall it is wrong he saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in 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