Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray performed special prayers at the Lord Vitthal temple in Pandharpur on Wednesday morning on the auspicious occasion of Ashadi Ekadashi.
Speaking after the prayers, Thackeray said that he prayed for a miracle to overcome the coronavirus crisis.
"We should not give a speech at the temple. But I will say that I had never thought of getting this honour to perform Ashadhi Ekadashi pooja at Vitthal Temple even in my dreams. Moreover, I had never thought that there will be a time when we have to perform this pooja in such restrictions. We are continuing this tradition of Ashadhi Ekadashi pooja for years and years," the Chief Minister said.
"I have heard about miracles of Vitthal many times. Now I expect that Vitthal will show his miracles. I am not here to ask for Maharashtra only. I am here to ask for the whole world that this corona pandemic problem should be taken away immediately by Vitthuraya by his miracles," he said.
"I am not saying that he should do it as soon as possible. I have prayed and requested this to him that it should go away from now onwards itself. Humans have already conceded their helplessness we don't have any medicine of it. How many days to live with this cloth at our faces? So I have prayed to Vitthuraya that he should take away this pandemic problem from today onwards," Thackeray said.
Maharashtra reported 1,74,761 coronavirus cases including 75,995 active cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
( With inputs from ANI )