As the three-week lockdown continues and may not be eased at one go, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with floor leaders of various political parties via a video link on April 8.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Prime Minister will interact with floor leaders of all those parties which have more than five MPs in both houses of Parliament on April 8 at 11 am.
Covid-19 and countrywide lockdown are likely to be discussed during the meeting.
This will be the prime minister's first interaction with opposition leaders after the lockdown amid criticism that the former has not taken the latter in confidence and not informed about the state of medical and other contingencies.
Keeping in mind the norms for social distancing and travel restrictions, the much-coveted meeting will be conducted through a video conference.
Many opposition leaders have been asking for an all-party meeting with the Prime Minister on the pandemic wanting to have the first-hand information on the steps to cope with the crisis which may not end too soon in time.
In the meeting, Government officials said that the Prime Minister will seek suggestions from different parties on the future road map to contain the deadly virus. The meeting will start at 11am with Modi’s opening remarks in which he will appraise the party leaders of the steps his government has taken so far.
The meeting will also be an opportunity to build a broad political consensus on India’s fight against Covid-19, according to officials.
Besides Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, parliamentary affairs minister and Leader of the Rajya Sabha, Thawar Chand Gehlot are also expected to be present.
Meanwhile, BJP’s vice-president Jay Panda has dismissed Congress charges of government not being ready to deal with the crisis which has claimed 75 lives and the numbers of those positive reaching 3,000 in the country as of today. Panda said all the suggestion made by the state governments have been implemented by the Prime Minister and that “ Prime Minister is coordinating with the states run by the opposition parties”.
Pointing to a survey, the BJP leader said “ 83 per cent of people have expressed confidence with PM’s leadership during the ongoing crisis”.