PM interacts with floor leaders of political parties on coronavirus; says lockdown will not be lifted in one go, will consult CMs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told floor leadersof opposition and other parties in Parliament that the nationwide lockdown willnot be lifted in one go on April 14, according to BJD’s Pinaki Misra.

Modi’s comments came during an interaction with theseleaders to discuss the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic and thegovernment’s efforts to contain the fast-spreading virus in the country.

   

“Prime Minister Modi made it clear that lockdown is notbeing lifted and also that the life pre-corona and post-corona will not besame,” Biju Janata Dal leader Pinaki Misra told PTI.

Another leader, who participated in the meeting but did notwish to be named, said the Prime Minister told them that he will also consultchief ministers.

Those participated in the meet included Ghulam Nabi Azad,leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, and Nationalist Congress Party headSharad Pawar.

Sources said, these leaders were briefed by secretaries ofvarious ministries—health, home and rural development —on the actions takenby the government to tackle COVID-19 and mitigate the hardships arising out ofthe lockdown.

Several opposition leaders raised the issue of shortage ofPersonal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health workers in the country while fewalso suggested that construction of the new parliament building should beavoided, a source said.

The meet comes amidst indications that the Centralgovernment may extend the lockdown across the country beyond April 14 afterseveral states have favoured the extension to contain the fast-spreading virus,as the positive cases in the country show no signs of any let up.

As per the Union health ministry’s Wednesday morning update,there are 149 deaths and 5,194 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country evenas the country entered its third week of nationwide lockdown.

Apart from Azad and Pawar, others who attended the virtualmeet included, Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satish Misra (Bahujan SamajParty), Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party), T R Baalu (Dravida MunnetraKazhagam), Sukhbir Singh Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JanataDal-United), Pinaki Mishra (Biju Janata Dal) and Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena).

Giving up its initial reluctance, the Trinamool Congress(TMC) also attended the interaction. TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay was amongthe participants.

Modi interacted with leaders of those parties whose combinedstrength of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adds up to five.

This is prime minister’s first interaction with the floorleaders, including those from the Opposition, after the imposition of thenationwide lockdown on March 25 though he had held interactions with chiefministers of all states including those ruled by non-NDA parties.

The prime minister has also held interactions with variousstakeholders, including doctors, journalists and heads of Indian missions toget a feedback on ways to check the spread of coronavirus.

He also recently spoke to various political party headsincluding Congress’ Sonia Gandhi, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and DMK’s MK Stalin anddiscussed the COVID-19 situation.

He had also talked to former presidents Pratibha Patil andPranab Mukherjee, and former prime ministers HD Deve Gowda and Manmohan Singh.

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