Not afraid of inquiry: BJP's Devendra Fadnavis on pharma firm-Remdesivir issue

Nagpur, Apr 19: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is being targeted by the ruling parties in Maharashtra for objecting to Mumbai police's grilling of a pharma company's top executive over alleged stocking of Remdesivir vials, on Sunday said he was not afraid of any inquiry against him as he has not done anything wrong.

Speaking to reporters atthe Nagpur airport on the issue of of questioning of Bruck Pharma company's director over the Remdesivir stock, said, "I am not afraid of any inquiry because I have worked in the opposition for 20 years and have 36 cases against me for the sake of people."

He said he would go to any limit to work in the interest of people of Maharashtra. "Yesterday's incident was very unfortunate. We had not called those Remdesivir vials for the BJP, and (Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council) Pravin Darekar had met the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) minister that the Remdesivir injections will be handed over to the FDA and the municipal corporation," he added.

Doing politics over the issue was wrong, the former chief minister said, and alleged that false news was being spread that they possessed the stock of Remdesivir. "I challenge them to prove that we had the stock (of Remdesivir)...The DCP himself had said that we did not have any stock with us," he said.

Mumbai police on Saturday night questioned Rajesh Dokania, director of Bruck Pharma, a Daman-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company that manufactures Remdesivir vials, following information that thousands of vials of the Remdesivir drug critical in coronavirus treatment were to be flown out of the country.

On learning about it, Fadnavis and Darekar had rushed to the police station. Their appearance at the police station has triggered a political slugfest between the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the opposition party over the paucity of healthcare supplies.

Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil on Sunday accused the BJP of trying to pressurise the Mumbai police and interefere in their work, while the state Congress president Nana Patole demanded action against Fadnavis and Darekar for "pressurising the police to let off" the pharma company director, who is suspected of hoarding Remdesivir injection stock.