'Remdesivir procured by BJP was meant for Maharashtra govt'

Days after the Remdesivir procurement controversy, it now appears that the injections being procured by the BJP were intended for the Maharashtra government.

The admission comes from Food and Drug Administration Minister Dr Rajendra Shingne.

During a midnight clash on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Devendra Fadnavis and his counterpart in Council Pravin Darekar, BJP MLC Prasad Lad and MLA Parag Alavani, rushed the Bandra-Kurla Complex police station following information that a person from Bruck Pharma Pvt Ltd was being investigated after a tip-off that the company has stocked 60,000 vials of Remdesivir.

Bruck Pharma is an exporter of the medicine, however, now exports of Remesivir are banned.

Also read: Fadnavis faces flak as 22-year-old nephew Tanmay gets Covid-19 vaccine

“Yes…I was aware of it… The BJP leaders had met me on this… Pravin ji informed me. They offered to help us procure the Remdesivir stocks for the state government and I agreed to it...it was meant for our state,” Dr Shingne told a Marathi news channel.

“However, the issue took a turn, lets there be no politics on Covid-19,” he said.

Darekar confirmed that he had taken a delegation of manufacturers to meet him.

“Shingne had thanked us for our efforts and we also assured the injection doses would be given to the state government,” Darekar said.