Kejriwal holds e-meeting with MPs on Covid-19, seeks suggestions

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday held a meeting with all the MPs from the national capital on the Covid-19 outbreak in the city .

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday held a meeting with all the MPs from the national capital on the Covid-19 outbreak in the city .

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During the meeting, held through video conferencing, Kejriwal urged all the leaders to work collectively in Delhi’s battle against coronavirus.

The government later said that all the seven Lok Sabha members — belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — and the three Rajya Sabha members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had interacted with the chief minister and suggested ways to contain the spread of Covid-19.

“Discussed the issue of coronavirus with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs via video conferencing. Several MPs have given good suggestions, which will soon be implemented by the government. We all will have to fight it together,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari suggested that MLAs in Delhi also could take pay cuts similar to the MPs. Tiwari also urged Kejriwal to streamline the process of distributing ration for non-card holders. “The schools where ration is being given are facing large crowds, which is defeating the purpose of social distancing. People are facing a lot of trouble in getting the e-coupons to get the ration. I request you to appoint a few officials at every centre who can facilitate coupon generation at a faster rate,” Tiwari said.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh called the meeting fruitful and said, “The MPs suggested several things to improve our response to Covid-19, ranging from testing to sanitisation. The CM has assured he will work on every point,” he said.

BJP’s east Delhi MP, Gautam Gambhir raised two issues. “Raised two issues with the CM. 1. Preparation of hospitals to deal with spike in cases and stock of equipment. 2. Waving off 2 months’ of electricity bills for small businesses across Delhi post-lockdown. Have to think about Delhi’s health and economy,” he said in a tweet after the meeting.

New Delhi MP, Meenakshi Lekhi appreciated the chief minister’s decision of holding such a meeting and suggested that he urge people to remain at home during Shab-e-baraat.

“Would like to thank Arvind Kejriwal who was gracious enough to take my suggestions into account during a video conference today. Today we rose above our differences to unite in our efforts against a common cause. Beauty of Indian democracy,” Lekhi said in a tweet.

The meeting came a day after Kejriwal announced a five-point action plan which includes one lakh rapid anti-body blood test in hotspots to contain the spread of the virus.

There are ten Members of Parliament, including seven of Lok Sabha from BJP and three of Rajya Sabha from AAP, in the national capital.