Vaccines bought by Shiv Sena?: Mumbai Congress MLA slams 'more posters than doses' centre

Even as Maharashtra grappled with the second wave of COVID, Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique took a dig at ally Shiv Sena for the 'grand opening' of a vaccination centre at Bandra and noted that such events were their duty and were not to be glorified.

The same Congress MLA from the Vandre East constituency had earlier raised a similar objection to Shiv Sena inaugurating an inoculation camp in his constituency without inviting him, last Friday. Taking to Twitter to share pictures of the vaccination camp on Thursday, Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique claimed that there were more posters than vaccines at the location and asked if the vaccine doses were procured from Shiv Sena's personal fund as there was allegedly no mention of MVA in the posters. 

Congress leader slams ally Shiv Sena

Disgruntled Congress MLA speaks to Republic

Speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network last Friday, Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique had said that a vaccination centre was inaugurated at his constituency (Vandre East) of Mumbai and that Shiv Sena Minister Anil Parab who had done the honours had not invited him for the inauguration. He revealed that the incident took place in the presence of former Mayor Visanath Mahajan, Nagar Sewak Rohini Kamle and many other Shiv Sena leaders. Stating that he felt really bad, the Congress MLA had said that such incidences have been happening since the day, he had got elected. He had said, "Anil Parab has been trying to put obstacles in my service. I am a young leader, who wants to work for people, but if people will not let me do my work, I will have to speak up against it."

Maharashtra's COVID situation

Maharashtra reported 42,582 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a drop of nearly 4,200 infections from a day ago, while 850 more patients succumbed to the disease, the state health department said. With the addition of 42,582 COVID-19 cases, down from 46,781 on Wednesday, the state's caseload increased to 52,69,292, while the death toll reached 78,857, it said. On Tuesday, Maharashtra had reported 40,956 COVID-19 cases, 793 deaths and 71,966 recoveries.

Of the 850 fatalities, 409 had occurred in the past 48 hours, 160 last week and the rest 281 before the last week but were added to the toll on Thursday, the department said. Once again, recoveries outnumbered new cases. As many as 54,535 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the total recoveries to 46,54,731, the department said. Maharashtra now has 5,33,294 active cases.