Sanjay Raut alleges 'Namaste Trump' event responsible for spread of coronavirus in Mumbai

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut on Sunday alleged that ‘Nameste Trump’ event in Ahmedabad in February was responsible for the spread of coronavirus in Gujarat and later in Mumbai and Delhi, which some of his representatives had visited.

The Shiv Sena leader also attacked the centre saying that lockdown was put in place without any planning, but now the responsibility of lifting the restrictions was left to the states.

Raut said that regardless of opposition BJP’s attempt to pull down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, there was no danger to it because its survival is cumpulsion of all the three ruling allies- Sena, NCP and Congress.

"It can't 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," Mr Raut said in his weekly column in Shiv Sena mouthpiece ''Saamana''.

On 24th February, Donald Trump along with PM Modi had taken part in a road show, which was attended by several people. Following that, the two leaders had made an address to a gathering of over one lakh people at Motera stadium.

The state of Gujarat had reported its first Covid-19 case on 20th March, when samples of a man from Rajkot and a women from Surat tested positive. The Shiv Sena MP further stated that any one try to pull down the Uddhav Thackeray led Maharashtra government and enforce President’s rule citing its failure to curb the coronavirus would be suicidal.

"If the handling of coronavirus cases is the basis of imposing President's rule, then it should be done in at least 17 states, including the BJP-ruled ones. Even the central government has failed to curb the pandemic as it had no planning to fight the virus," he said.

"The 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.

Sanjay Raut said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made an excellent analysis of how the lockdown has been unsuccessful. "It is shocking that people can indulge in politics by demanding President's rule in Maharashtra for the rise in the coronavirus cases," he said.

BJP leader Narayan Rana had not long ago met Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyara and demended imposition of President’s rule in a view of the state government’s failure in tackling the pathogen.

But, the BJP had later stated that it was not trying to pull down the government.

Talking about the stability of the government, The Shiv Sena MP stated that the survival of the Maharashtra government was the compulsion of each of the three alliance party.

"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," Mr Raut said.

Raut stated that Devendra Fadnavis led government, in which Shiv Sena and BJP shared power, witnessed internal dispute, but it completed its five year term.

Launching an attack at Fadnavis, for predicting downfall of the MVA government saying it will fall on its own because of internal bickering.

"If the Fadnavis government, which witnessed deep internal conflicts between BJP and Sena, didn't fall, how can this one collapse? The Fadnavis government survived despite the (Sena) ministers carrying their resignation letters in their pockets," Mr Raut wrote.

Earlier, Fadnavis during an online interaction with the media, said he had no intention to pull down the MVA government and stated that it would come down 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 said.

Shiv Sena MP further saif that NCP’s Sharad Pawar is the prominent leader, who laid the foundation stone of the government, and only he and 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 horse-trading. Hence, if the opposition says that the government will fall, it is wrong," he said.

Also Read: Unlock1: Services, places that are not allowed to open in lockdown 5.0