The open letter is from the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Devendra Fadnavis to the former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Julio Ribeiro.
The letter opens with Fadnavis thanking Ribeiro for his constructive criticism and clarifies that this open letter is not to counter the latter’s view in his article.
Fadnavis claims that the facts have been misrepresented by “the fake narrative factory of the constituents of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).”
The former Chief Minister claims that he and leader of opposition in the Legislative Council were not procuring “even a single vial” of Remdesivir for Bharatiya Janata Party.
Fadnavis goes on to explain in some detail the actions he, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Minister, and LoP, Legislative Council took. The nutshell of the claims is that Fadnavis was going above and beyond the call of duty to arrange vaccines for citizens of his state.
He further claimed that a cop in civil dress tried a sting operation on one of the directors of the manufacturing company and when that failed, uniformed policemen, 8 to 10 in number, visited the director’s house and confiscated phones. In addition, the director was taken to the police station.
Fadnavis mentions that he approached Joint Commissioner of Police “more than once”, and then the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The further proceedings are then detailed in the open letter.
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Fadnavis also made a point, which in the opinion of yours truly is a hallmark of one of the highest political behaviours, that opposition “should not merely point fingers but also try to help the state in a crisis, using our resources and contacts.”
Further details are revealed in the letter, and Fadnavis emphatically clarifies that he could not allow a man who is legally helping the state of Maharashtra to bear unnecessary and unwarranted “victimisation”.
Finally, Fadnavis expresses sadness and surprise that their “genuine effort to help in a crisis will be politicised.”
Fadnavis concludes the open letter with a claim that “supporters of the MVA government and political parties such as the AAP” circulated “fake and forged videos and stories”. Fadnavis announced that he will be initiating legal proceedings against them.