Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia asks about protocol after live telecast of PM Narendra Modi's meet

NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday questioned the live transmission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with district magistrates and officials on Covid pandemic and wondered about the protocol of such telecast.

Referring to the criticism of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after his comment during a meeting with the prime minister was broadcast last month, Sisodia asked how to determine which meetings could be telecast live.

Interacting with district magistrates at a meeting on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said they were free to innovate to suit their local requirements and asked them to share their feedback about any change in policy on Covid management without any inhibition.

“The statement of the Prime Minister in the meeting today was telecast live. In a previous meeting there was objection against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s live telecast that protocol was breached. Whether live telecast was allowed in the protocol today. How would it be known which meeting is to be live telecast and which not,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

Kejriwal’s had shared live his comments during the interaction with Prime Minister Modi over Covid-19 on April 23. Modi had chided Kejriwal for “breaking protocol”, and later central government officials accused the AAP chief of “playing politics”.

The Delhi government had responded to the sharp reaction stating there had been no instruction about it.

“There have been multiple occasions of similar interactions where matters which had no confidential information were shared live. However, if any inconvenience was caused we highly regret that,” it had said.