NCP's Jitendra Ahwad shares fake letter of NSA Doval on Kumbh Mela despite clarification

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader & Maharashtra Minister Jitendra Awhad shared a fake letter of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval hailing Uttarakhand officials for organising the Kumbh Mela successfully, despite the government categorically stating a day earlier that no such letter was written. Even as COVID cases continued to surge at an unprecedented rate in Maharashtra, the NCP leader took to Twitter to spread the fake news by sharing the letter and mocked NSA Ajit Doval, claiming that he was 'doing his job sincerely'. Sharing a picture of the fake letter, NCP's Jitendra Awhad ahead claimed that NSA Ajit Doval stamped 'his commitment for ideology' along with the Ashoka Stambha. 

NCP leader shares fake letter

The fake letter was called out by government officials on Tuesday who categorically stated that no such communication had been made by NSA Doval to the Uttarakhand officials. Political leaders who are a part of the MVA alliance have criticised the government for allowing the Kumbh Mela to be held amid a huge surge in COVID cases reported in India, with Maharashtra leading from the front. Earlier, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar had claimed that the Kumbh Mela returnees would spread Coronavirus like 'prasad' on their return to the city and had said that they would be quarantined on their arrival and would bear the expense on their own. However, most states namely Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Karnataka and others have mandated the Kumbh Mela returnees to have a negative RT-PCR test report on their arrival to their respective states

Lockdown in Maharashtra? CM Uddhav to decide today

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will announce a decision about lockdown on Wednesday. "We have made all the efforts to minimise the COVID-19 figures. He will announce the decision (to impose lockdown) tomorrow after finalising a detailed Standard Operating Procedure," Bhujbal said. "We may have to impose restrictions on the local train movement in Mumbai too, he said. On Tuesday, Mumbai guardian Minister Aslam Sheikh and Health Minister Rajesh Tope had said that the cabinet ministers had suggested imposing a 15-day lockdown in the state of Maharashtra to CM Uddhav Thackeray and that the decision would be made by the Shiv Sena supremo. 

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 62,097 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 39,60,359, while 519 more patients succumbed to the infection, said a health department official. The new fatalities pushed the statewide toll to 61,343, he said. Out of the 519 fatalities, 307 occurred in the last 48 hours and 114 last week, while 98 deaths took place in period before the last week, but were added to the toll now, the official said.