Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told floor leaders of the opposition and other parties in Parliament that the nationwide lockdown will not 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 not being lifted and also that the life pre-corona and post-corona will not be the same," Biju Janata Dal leader Pinaki Misra told.
Another leader, who participated in the meeting but did not wish to be named, said the Prime Minister told them that he will also consult chief ministers. Those who participated in the meet included Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, and Nationalist Congress Party head Sharad Pawar.
As per sources, these leaders were briefed by secretaries ofvarious ministries—health, home and rural development on the actions taken bythe government to tackle COVID-19 and mitigate the hardships arising out of thelockdown. Several opposition leaders raised the issue of shortage of PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE) for health workers in the country while few alsosuggested that construction of the new parliament building should be avoided, asource said.
The meet comes amidst indications that the Central Government may extend the lockdown across the country beyond April 14 after several states have favored 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 the prime minister's first interaction with the floor leaders, including those from the Opposition, after the imposition of the nationwide lockdown on March 25 though he had held interactions with chief ministers of all states including those ruled by non-NDA parties.
The prime minister has also held interactions with various stakeholders, including doctors, journalists and heads of Indian missions to get feedback on ways to check the spread of coronavirus. He also recently spoke to various political party heads including Congress' Sonia Gandhi, TMC's Mamata Banerjee and DMK's MK Stalin and discussed 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.
