The Free Press Journal

State BJP struggles to stop image beating in pandemic

- RAVIKIRAN DESHMUKH ravikiran.deshmukh@fpj.co.in

Blitzkrieg of news on the handling of Covid19 pandemic, comments and taunts on various media platforms is incessant, and keeps the state unit of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on defensive these days. Besides the pandemic, the economic crisis and issues concerning the state government­s tackling one of the worst crises in recent time, the party which had a very tiny opposition to face at the centre, now seems tottering to face the onslaught. And the state unit has an onerous task to defend.

In Maharashtr­a particular­ly, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has been able to set a narrative that the state is being neglected by the Centre because the BJP could not see its government coming to power.

Though the BJP feels it’s a wrong narrative, arguments are at galore on social media platforms.

The party gets a few chances to launch counter-attacks and the most notable among them were when controvers­ial police officer Sachin Vaze was nabbed by the National Investigat­ive Agency in SUV-laden explosives case and murder of Thane businessma­n Mansukh Hiren.

But the state unit is not ready to accept it. Chief spokesman of the state unit Keshav Upadhye says every attempt to set a wrong narrative is fought jointly. Our top leaders such as state chief Chandrakan­t Patil, leaders of opposition Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar along with media department members react as soon as wrong informatio­n is spread.

According to him, the basic issue is that we are a lone party in the opposition taking on the three-party government. Their joint efforts, that comprise top ranking leaders of three parties appear a bit loud but with wrong informatio­n. You can check the numbers shared by us that say the highest number of Remedesivi­r injections, significan­t share from PM Cares and even vaccines have been made available to Maharashtr­a. This government in fact failed to utilize the resources mainly due to the botched efforts at the government and administra­tive level.

Chief spokesman of the state unit Keshav Upadhye says every attempt to set a wrong narrative is fought jointly

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