MNS attacks Shiv Sena after party workers distribute sanitary napkins with Aaditya Thackeray's photo

Mumbai: Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has attacked Maharashtra’s ruling party Shiv Sena after its workers allegedly distributed sanitary napkins carrying Aaditya Thackeray's photo.

Aditya, who is the son of Shiv Sena supremo and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, is currently serving as the State Environment and Tourism Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

A senior MNS leader, Sandeep Deshpande, had alleged that the Shiv Sainiks distributed 500 packets of sanitary napkins with Aaditya Thackeray’s photograph affixed on them among women in Colaba Assembly constituency.

In a tweet, Deshpande said that the sanitary pads with Aaditya’s photo on the packets were distributed by Yuvati and Yuva Sena. 

कायरे लाचारानो हे पण आधीच छापले होते का? कशावर कोणाचा फोटो टाकायचा हे कळत नाही ?आता म्हणतील राजकारण नको pic.twitter.com/JyTMJ86eJa

— Sandeep Deshpande (@SandeepDadarMNS) May 21, 2020

Notably, Aaditya Thackeray is also the president of Yuva Sena. 

Mumbai has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's financial capital has recorded 23,935 coronavirus cases. 841 people have lost their lives in Mumbai due to the deadly contagious virus.

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, five companies of the Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed in Mumbai to enforce strict implementation of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 41,642 followed by Tamil Nadu at 13,967, Gujarat at 12,905, Delhi at 11,659 Rajasthan at 6,227, Madhya Pradesh at 5,981 and Uttar Pradesh at 5,515, according to the health ministry data updated in the morning.

The country recorded the biggest single-day spike of 6,088 COVID-19 cases, while the death toll due to the virus has climbed to 3,583, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

The number of coronavirus cases now stands at 1,18,447 in the country. There has been an increase of 148 deaths and 6,088 cases since Thursday, according to the Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 66,330, while 48,533 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 40.97 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. The total confirmed cases include foreigners.

Of the 148 deaths reported since Thursday morning, 64 were in Maharashtra, 24 in Gujarat, 18 from Delhi, 11 from Uttar Pradesh, seven from Tamil Nadu, six from West Bengal, five from Telangana, four from Rajasthan, three from Madhya Pradesh, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Bihar, Odisha, Haryana and Punjab.