In a blistering attack against Aaditya Thackeray, the Guardian Minister of Mumbai Suburban District Government of Maharashtra, BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar has asked Mumbai residents to spot the Shiv Sena leader and get a free COVID-19 jab in return, highlighting the conspicuous absence of Thackeray from the public space after the devastation wreaked by cyclone Taukte in the state’s coastal region, including Mumbai.
“I am going to start a scheme on behalf of BJP to locate Aaditya Thackeray, the Guardian Minister of Mumbai Suburbs. Anyone who finds him in the Mumbai suburbs will get a free vaccination, which is currently on hold for the group of 18-44 in the state,” said Atul Bhatkhalkar. Bhatkhalkar tweeted a video on his Twitter handle, accusing the Shiv Sena leader of taking a stock of the damage caused by the cyclone Taukte to Mumbai’s beaches.
हरवलेले पालकमंत्री @AUThackeray कुणाला दिसले का तौक्ते वादळानंतर ? सापडले तर सांगा आम्हालाही… pic.twitter.com/Ep7vbmVtMP
— Atul Bhatkhalkar (@BhatkhalkarA) May 24, 2021
“One and a half years have passed since the appointment of Aaditya Thackeray as the Guardian Minister of Mumbai Suburbs. Only one meeting of the District Planning Committee was held during this period. No action has been taken by the Guardian Minister on the suggestions made by the people’s representatives in that meeting. The cyclone has caused losses to the tunes of crores of rupees to fishermen in Versova, Madh, Malvani, Gorai. A person lost his life after a tree branch fell in Malad. Several others have borne the loss caused by the devastation caused by the cyclone. Despite repeated requests from myself and the Bharatiya Janata Party, no financial help was given to the people in the suburbs,” Bhatkhalkar said.
Bhatkhalkar alleged that Aaditya Thackeray is secretly touring the Tadoba Jungles in eastern Maharashtra and has not visited any COVID care centre and hospital in Mumbai since the start of the pandemic last year, even though the city was amongst the worst affected by the menace of the coronavirus. In his video, Bhatkhalkar asked what has Aaditya Thackeray done for the people of Mumbai, whose residents had to put up with inadequate medical facilities even as the virus continued to rip through the city.
Maharashtra tops the list of the states with the highest number of reported coronavirus cases. In April 2021, the state recorded more than 50,000 daily cases, a major part of which has powered by the alarming rise of the cases in Mumbai. Maharashtra on Sunday reported 26,672 fresh COVID-19 cases and 594 deaths, taking the tally to 55,79,897 and the toll to 87,894, the state health department said.
Mumbai on Sunday reported 1,431 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 49 deaths on a day when 23,314 tests were conducted, the city civic body said. With the addition of the new cases, Mumbai’s COVID-19 caseload went up to 6,97,810 and the death toll to 4,623, it said in a statement.