Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday hailed the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, saying that “some important decisions” taken by it helped bring down the COVID-19 cases. He was also confident that things would soon go back to normal and the pandemic-hit economy would revive.
He said the Maharashtra government has indicated that it would provide relief to people in fuel prices after the Centre’s excise duty cut on petrol and diesel, but it would be in a position to do so if the Central government pays up the GST compensation to the State.
Mr. Pawar was talking to reporters at Govind Baug, his residence at Baramati in Pune district, on the occasion of his family’s get-together for Deepavali celebrations, when party workers from across the State visit him to extend their festival greetings. Last year, Mr. Pawar’s family did not celebrate Deepavali in Baramati due to COVID-19.
“Last year, due to COVID-19, we had to follow certain restrictions, but now the danger of COVID-19 is slowly declining in the country. As far as Maharashtra is concerned, the State government took some important decisions, as a result of which, we are witnessing a decline in the number of coronavirus patients,” he said.
Even this year, the family was in a fix on whether or not to celebrate Deepavali as usual, he said, adding, “But people and colleagues insisted that we celebrate Deepavali in Baramati and assured that they would follow all the COVID-19 norms during their visit. Today, hundreds of people, party colleagues visited and offered their greetings in a disciplined manner.”
The former Union Minister said he is confident that the coronavirus situation would improve further.
“We are coming out of danger... I am sure that we will go back to normal and will be able to compensate for the losses incurred during the pandemic and we will be able to revive the economy... I wish a warm Deepavali to all the people and I am sure that we will be able to start again with new hope,” Mr. Pawar said.
On the relief given by the Centre on fuel prices and asked if the State government will offer some respite to the people, Mr. Pawar said that he needs to talk to State government on this issue.
