COVID-19 norms go for a toss at BJP MLA's wedding

Pune, December 22

Social distancing norms were flouted at a BJP MLA’s wedding here, with hundreds of people attending it and many of them, including senior party leaders, not bothering to wear masks.

Viral videos of the wedding showed state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis interacting with people at close quarters without wearing masks.

Ram Satpute, a first-term MLA from Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur district got married in Erandwane area of Pune on Sunday.

The videos show that no social distancing was followed at the wedding. Maharashtra government’s unlock guidelines stipulate that up to 50 people can attend a marriage ceremony, but hundreds were seen at the ceremony, many of them without masks.

Police inspector Sanjivan Jagdale of Alankar police station, under whose jurisdiction the marriage venue falls, said there was “no big crowd at a time as the attendees kept coming and going after blessing the couple.”

No police complaint has been filed in this matter so far, the police inspector said. PTI