PM Modi lights a lamp during the 9-minute exercise. (ANI)
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi Sunday reached out to his predecessors Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, former Presidents Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil, and a host of chief ministers and Opposition leaders, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking their cooperation for the measures that his government is taking to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
“He told me that the country is facing such a serious threat and he wants the cooperation of all to overcome this problem. He said that his government is trying to the best of its ability, and that senior leaders should extend your cooperation to overcome the crisis,” Gowda told The Indian Express.
“I had made a suggestion to him few days back to look after the agricultural workers, landless workers, construction workers…I said you are taking certain decisions, do you best you can to fight corona,” Gowda said.
Modi did not indicate whether the government plans to lift the lockdown after the 21-day period, he said. The former prime minister, however, did not appear too happy with the government’s response to the crisis. “The country is facing a critical situation. I don’t want to mix politics. There are so many issues, which is going to crop up. The way in which they are ordering for ventilators, the kits…we need so many kits. Even America is getting from China, the situation is not being properly handled,” he said.
Congress sources said Sonia Gandhi drew the Prime Minister’s attention to the multiple letters that she and her son Rahul Gandhi had written to him in the recent days. The Prime Minister assured that he will look into them.
“Mrs Gandhi drew his attention to the letters that she and Rahul had written suggesting a complete architecture to deal with the COVID pandemic. She also told the Prime Minister that we will support the government in every endeavour. The suggestions are basically two-pronged — how to deal with the health emergency and the economic crisis,” sources said.
Modi, meanwhile, also spoke over phone with SP veteran and former Union minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav, DMK chief M K Stalin, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha Chief Minister and BJD leader Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal.
The conversation comes ahead of his scheduled meeting with leaders of political parties Wednesday through video conferencing.
Sources said Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will attend the meeting with the Prime Minister.
Modi’s call to Sonia comes at a time when the Congress is increasingly turning critical of the government’s response to the outbreak — and today’s reachout is perhaps the first in several years.
Modi had met Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi in November 2015 in an attempt to break the deadlock over the Goods and Services Tax Bill.