Maharashtra unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Chandrakant Patil, on Wednesday said he has assured the party workers that the BJP will return to power in the state once the results of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are announced on March 10.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel on Wednesday, Patil also said that since the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government failed to instill confidence among the migrant labourers during the coronavirus pandemic, they had started going back to their native places on foot, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed sensitivity and launched special trains for them.
"During a meeting, some BJP workers complained that they are facing hardships from others at the lower level and also complained of misuse of power by those ruling the state. They also cited the recent attack on (BJP leader) Kiritji (Somaiya). But I assured them not to be worried as after the UP election results our government will be formed in Maharashtra," Patil said.
Before the current Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress came into being in the state, the BJP shared power with the Sena during 2014-19.
On Monday, PM Modi had said in the Lok Sabha that the Congress 'crossed all limits' during the COVID-19 pandemic, and also accused the party of instigating and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai.
Referring to the PM's remarks, Patil said, "Even if Congress leaders like Nana Patole, Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and NCP leader Supriya Sule try to twist Modiji's words or try to mislead people, the commoners know that they survived in the COVID-19 because of Modiji."
"It was Modiji who provided ration to 80 crore people during the pandemic. It was Modiji who made vaccines available to people. So those who know this, they are not affected by the misleading campaign," he said.
According to Patil, through his remarks, prime minister meant to say that the state government had failed to give confidence to the migrant workers during the pandemic.
"As these migrant workers faced issues of one-time meal after the lockdown was imposed, they decided to go back to their states," he said.
He said that the state government did not provide any package of even a single rupee to all these affected people.
"I challenge the Uddhav Thackeray government to issue a white paper on what you have done during the COVID-19 pandemic," he said, adding that vaccines, masks, PPE kits, ventilators and testing kits were provided by the Centre.
"Since you (state government) failed to instill confidence among the migrant workers, they headed back homes, which led to the spread of COVID-19. Where is the question of blaming Maharashtra? It is the Maharashtra government which is to be blamed," he said.
Had the migrant workers felt confident about living in Maharashtra during those times, the trains to their native places would have run vacant, he added.
"As you failed to give confidence to the migrant workers, they set their journey on foot, but Modiji was sensitive enough and he could not these people setting their journey on foot and decided to send special trains," he said.
