BJP slams Prithviraj Chavan's 'gold appropriation' demand, asks 'Is this Cong's stance?'

Former BJP Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday lashed out at former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan for asking the Centre to appropriate all the gold lying with all religious trusts in India. He questioned whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked Chavan to put forth this demand. Thereafter, he asked the Congress party to clarify whether it backed Chavan's point of view. According to Chavan, the gold worth $1 trillion could be borrowed at a low-interest rate and utilised in the ongoing "emergency" COVID-19 situation. 

Kirit Somaiya remarked, "Prithviraj Chavan has demanded that the government should appropriate the gold lying in temples. I want clarification from Prithviraj Chavan that has Sonia Gandhi asked you to make this demand? Is this the stance of Congress? Is this the demand of the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states?"

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Coronavirus crisis in Maharashtra

Maharashtra witnessed its single-highest one-day rise in COVID-19 cases on Wednesday after 1,495 new novel coronavirus cases were reported. This propelled the state's COVID-19 tally to 25,922. With 422 COVID-19 patients getting discharged in the day, the number of recovered surged to 5,547. Meanwhile, 54 casualties- 40 from Mumbai, 6 from Pune, two each from Solapur, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, and one each from Vasai-Virar and Ratnagiri were reported on Wednesday.

36 of the deceased persons had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc. So far, 975 persons in Maharashtra have died due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray approved Rs.54.75 crore from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to purchase train tickets for the migrants stranded in the state and to bring back the ones stranded in other states. 

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