Defending his party in Maharashtra over raising allegations of mishandling the COVID crisis, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that his party is not a key player in running Maharashtra government.

Congress played a very significant role in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray after a month of political drama in the state.

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It was Congress whose voice was most significant in the government formation as the whole arithmetic was depended on its 44 MLAs.

“We are only supporting the government and are not a ‘key player’ in the state”, said Gandhi.

However, he defended the state government and said that Mumbai is a well-connected state and that is the reason why Covid cases are rising there.

He further said that the party is doing better where ever it is running its own government.

Rahul Gandhi’s statement is very crucial is a situation when the Maharashtra government is going through a veiled hectic politics.

On Monday, Sharad Pawar went to meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan. Both the sides called it a ‘courtesy call’.

Pawar was accompanied by NCP MP Praful Patel.

On the same day, BJP leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane also went to meet the Governor. As per the reports, he demanded imposition of President’s rule in the state.

He claimed that the government headed by the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had failed to handle the Covid-19 crisis.

Few days ago, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis also called on Koshyari and complained that the Thackeray government had bungled in handling the coronavirus situation.

Governor had called a review meeting of the crisis in which CM Thackeray excused himself and sent his close confidante Milind Narvekar.

Yesterday evening, Uddhav Thackeray met Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar.

The two leaders held a meeting for about one-and-a-half hours, said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday while asserting that the state government is “strong”.

The Sena Rajya Sabha MP, however, did not reveal what transpired between the two leaders.