New Delhi, (Samajweekly) For Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Tuesday’s virtual Covid meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in presence of a slew of Chief Ministers proved to be an embarrassment when the Prime Minister stopped him, in middle of his speech, to ask him to give out a plan rather than dishing out numbers.
As Khattar gave out statistics, Modi firmly interjected to say that he is already in possession of those numbers. “Manohar ji, we have these figures, right before us… Tell us your perspective about how you plan to contain the spread of corona,” said an assertive Modi.
The PM was virtually interacting with the Chief Ministers of eight states and Union Territories worst-affected by Covid. Also present were Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot, Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, Gujarat’s Vijay Rupani, Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan.
Haryana has a total 20,412 active cases of Covid-19, according to the Union Health Ministry, and has seen 2,216 deaths so far.
At the meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who virtually took charge of Delhi’s war on Covid recently, cited examples of the US and Europe to urge states to exercise caution. He advised the 8 states to stringently ensure that all wear masks while in public places and maintain physical distancing.
