Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction has slammed the Centre over its letter sent to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot urging them to consider suspending or postponing the Bharat Jodo Yatra if COVID protocols could not be followed.
“Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has suggested either follow COVID protocol in the Bharat Jodo Yatra or stop the foot march. Rahul Gandhi has completed 100 days of his Bharat Jodo Yatra and is receiving mass support on a large scale. The government could not stop it by law or by conspiracy so it seems the Union government has released the ‘COVID-19’ virus,” an editorial in Saamana, the political mouthpiece of the Thackeray camp said in a report by ANI.
“The fear of rising in COVID cases due to the rush of the ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra is right. But three years ago when corona wreaked havoc, you were the one who invited the then US President Trump to Gujarat and gathered lakhs of people in his honour,” the magazine said further.
On Tuesday, Mandaviya had written to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking them to strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.