Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekhar Bawankule responded to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's criticism of the Eknath Shinde government over deaths in state-run hospitals by alleging the former chief minister did not desist from taking a cut in the procurement of body bags.
BJP had, during the COVID-19 pandemic, accused the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government of buying body bags at inflated prices and had alleged kickbacks in such procurement. In a post on social media site X, Bawankule said when patients were dying due to lack of oxygen (during the pandemic), Thackeray was engrossed in distributing tenders. Asking Thackeray to recall the loot when he was chief minister of Maharashtra, Bawankule said, You did not even spare taking a cut from procurement of bags for the dead bodies.
On Thackeray's criticism that Shinde did not visit the kin of those who died in government-run hospitals, Bawankule said the Shiv Sena (UBT) head as CM ran the government from home. Thackeray attacked the Eknath Shinde government on Friday over the death of several patients in some state-run hospitals in a short time, alleging people were losing lives due to its corrupt governance.