During the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 4 on the issue of COVID-19 and vaccine distribution, only parties with more than 10 members in Parliament will be allowed to speak; smaller parties have to be silent participants, party leaders have been informed.
The meeting was called after Mr. Modi’s visit on Saturday to three vaccine manufacturing facilities: Zydus in Ahmedabad, Serum Institute in Pune, and Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad.
During the previous videoconference meetings with the Chief Ministers as well, the Prime Minister’s Office had drawn up the schedule in such a way that different States could speak on different dates, rather than opting for an open discussion on the subject. With the 10 MP criteria, many regional parties will not have the opportunity to express their opinion, including Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and the two parties of the left, the CPI. (M) and the CPI.
The leader of the CPI Parliamentary Party, Binoy Viswam, has written a letter to Mr. Modi urging him to reconsider this decision not to allow those with fewer than 10 MPs to speak at the meeting. Mr. Viswam said that in case the PMO found it impossible to accommodate smaller parties, he wanted to express his views on the matter. He lobbied to increase testing facilities and also reduce the cost of RT PCR testing across the country. The CPI leader asked the prime minister to ensure that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana is extended until May 2021.
NCP, which has five members in Lok Sabha and four in Rajya Sabha, does not meet the criteria set by the PMO. “If a person like Sharad Pawar is not allowed to speak, I think such a meeting will lack direction and clarity. And not all vaccines require a comprehensive debate on all the consequences of the pandemic, including the state of the economy, “said the party leader, Praful Patel.
Former NDA ally Akali Dal will also not be able to speak. Akali Dal’s senior leader Naresh Gujral said that due to time constraints it is understandable that such a criterion was imposed. “After a while, the points raised by the participants start to get repetitive. While COVID is an important issue, one would have expected the PMO to feel the need to consult on the new agricultural laws, which has led to widespread protest, ”said Gujral.
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