Sanjay Gaikwad asked what would Devendra Fadnavis have done if he was the chief minister at this time.
Amid the row over Remdesivir supply, Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad has said if he would have found the coronavirus, he would have it into the mouth of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, sparking protests by the opposition party in Maharashtra.
Former chief minister Mr Fadnavis is being targeted by the ruling parties in Maharashtra for objecting to Mumbai police's grilling of a pharma company's top executive over alleged stocking of vials of Remdesivir, which is in high demand for treating COVID-19 patients.
Talking to reporters here on Saturday, Mr Gaikwad, who is an MLA from Buldhana, asked what would Mr Fadnavis have done if he was the chief minister at this time of the pandemic.
Rather than supporting the state ministers, BJP leaders are mocking them and looking at how this government (comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) fails, he said.
"Hence, if I would have found the coronavirus, I would have put it into the mouth of Devendra Fadnavis," he said.
Mr Gaikwad alleged that Mr Fadnavis, and BJP leaders Pravin Darekar and Chandrakant Patil were doing petty politics over the pandemic and distribution of Remdesivir injections.
The Centre asked Remdesivir manufacturing companies in Maharashtra not to supply the drug to the state. They are also not providing the required medical oxygen to Maharashtra, Mr Gaikwad claimed.
They are providing Remdesivir injections to Gujarat and supplying 50,000 vials of the drug to that state free of cost from a BJP office in Maharashtra, while people are dying in Maharashtra, he charged.
"Such low and petty politics is being done by the central government and Fadnavis," he claimed.
Is this the time to do politics? The Centre and Mr Fadnavis should be shameful of their acts, he said.
Following Mr Gaikwad's remarks, BJP workers staged protests at various places in Buldhana on Sunday and burnt the MLA's effigies.
Mr Fadnavis on Sunday said he has not done anything wrong and was not afraid of any inquiry against him.