JOIN USPM Modi seeks Opposition including Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee's views on coronavirus
As the COVID-19 challenge is getting bigger with each passing day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday widened the ambit of political discussions three days before he is slated to interact with floor leaders of political parties in Parliament.
Besides Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, who had written to the Prime Minister on the COVID-19 challenge, Modi called two former Presidents Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil and two former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda to discuss the menace.
In the backdrop of COVID-19 having spread its tentacles now across India, the Prime Minister also spoke to a number of leaders of different political parties from states in North and South.
They include at least three former Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) and Parkash Singh Badal (Punjab), three Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) K Chandrasekhar Rao (Telangana) and DMK leader M K Stalin.
There has been criticism that the government has not taken the Opposition parties into confidence in drafting the strategy to counter COVID-19 disease.
On Saturday, when the government announced that the Prime Minister will interact with floor leaders of political parties having at least five MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha combined, Trinamool Congress raised the red flag saying that its demands to discuss the issue in Parliament was not accepted and hence, it will not participate in the interaction.
Modi's move to rope in senior leaders of political parties is expected to smoothen the rough edges and help evolve a political consensus on fighting COVID-19.
The main Opposition party, Congress has in the last few weeks repeatedly trained guns on Modi dispensation over the spread COVID-19 and the government's strategy to counter it and particularly, its handling of migrants on move after the announcement of 21-day lockdown to check the disease spread.
The lockdown came into effect from the midnight of March 24.