Mamata a mute spectator?

As many as 21 chief ministers and administrators of Union Territories attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video-conference on Tuesday, the first day of the two-day meet. On the second day on Wednesday, Modi is scheduled to interact with 15 chief ministers, mostly of the bigger states. However, some chief ministers might not get an opportunity to speak at the meeting. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may be one of them, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi indicated that on Tuesday. “It seems the Centre's so worried about exposing itself to @MamataOfficial's constructive criticism on #COVID response that our hon'ble CM's been reduced to just a mute spectator for the latest round of VCs with the PM. People of Bengal won't forgive this!” he tweeted. Assembly polls in West Bengal are slated for May next year.

Chief items before Congress

The Congress will hold a meeting of its highest-decision making body, the Congress Working Committee, on June 23 to discuss the current political situation, including the military trouble on the India-China border and what its response would be, and plan its course of action. However, a bigger issue facing the party is succession. Sonia Gandhi had taken over as the party’s interim president last year on August 10. It will soon be a year, and the party would need to hold a plenary session to either ratify her presidency or elect a new one. The plenary session had earlier been planned for April, but the spread of Covid-19 and the lockdown forced the party to postpone those plans. Many in the party believe it is time for Rahul Gandhi to return as the party chief. He had quit the post in the aftermath of the party’s disastrous showing in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Yoga from home

The threat of the pandemic is looming before International Yoga Day celebrations. Thanks to social media, it will be observed at home and shared with all. The Ayush ministry has said that due to the contagious nature of Covid-19, no mass gathering would be advisable this year. “Hence, this year the ministry is encouraging people to practise yoga at their homes, with participation by the entire family.” The theme of this year’s Yoga Day celebrations, on June 21, will be “Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family”. A video-blogging competition, organised jointly by the ministry and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, was launched on Tuesday. Yoga enthusiasts can send in their entries, along with videos of their performances.