In perhaps a telling comment on US President Donald Trump's handling of Covid-19 crisis in the USA, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhab Thackeray sought to carve a different image of himself than the American President. In a teaser of his interview with Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Thackeray sought to distance himself from the approach adopted by Trump. Raut is also Executive Editor of party mouthpiece Saamana.
"I am not Trump. I can't see my people suffering," Thackeray can be heard in the teaser of the interview. The interview will be released online over weekend in two parts. The interview is in Marathi
In the teaser of the interview, tweeted by Raut, he can be seen asking questions on coronavirus lockdown in Maharashtra.
"Lockdown is in place," asserts Uddhav.
"People are tired of it now," says Raut. He also asks, in lighter vein, when would Mumbaikars get to eat Vada Pav again.
"We are resolving issues one by one," says Uddhav
Situation in Maharashtra:
Maharashtra has become the biggest hotspot of coronavirus infections in the country. Although number of tests carried out in Maharashtra is higher than many other states ( thereby increasing reporting of infections), accounting for around 3 lakh cases out of 12 lakh nationally is certainly not a good thing.
Uddhav Thackeray's efforts to handle the situation have been praised as well as criticised. Thackeray was praised for his initial steps of imposing state-wide lockdown even before national lockdown was put in place. However, as number of cases grew, Thackeray increasingly found himself in the line of fire from the Opposition in the state.
Maharashtra has had 3,27,031 coronavirus cases out of which 1,32,538 are active cases. 12,276 people have died so far.
Situation in the US:
Coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc in the USA. There have been 40,28,733 cases so far and nearly 1.5 lakh people have died due to the infection.
US President Donald Trump has been widely criticised in the US and worldover for what has been perceived as a lax, even 'irresponsible' approach in tackling the crisis.
In past, Trump has said on record that coronavirus was "Just a flu". He continues to get panned from the media.
Watch | India next to US in COVID testing: Donald Trump
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