The Congress party has called a meeting of its working committee on April 17 to discuss the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and the steps taken by the government to curb it. The party might also review at the meeting the economic fallout of this phase of the pandemic and the election process in the five assembly polls.
The meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top executive body, has been scheduled against the backdrop of a surging second wave of the coronavirus disease — in the seven days to Tuesday, India has added over 1.07 million new Covid-19 cases, 22% of the total cases in the world in this period.
KC Venugopal, party general secretary in charge of organisation, said in a letter on Wednesday: “A meeting of the CWC will be held on Saturday, April 17, via video conferencing to discuss matters related to the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.”
According to a senior Congress leader, CWC is likely to ask the government to open vaccinations for everyone. “It may also ask for removal of the current age bracket as more young people are getting affected in the second wave,” added a second Congress leader. Both asked not to be identified.
Two party strategists said that the meeting could also take into account the economic situation arising out the pandemic. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted by 3.6% in February signalling a weakness in the sequential economic recovery even before the beginning of second wave of Covid-19. With the increase in cases, Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialised states, announced a lockdown while many states have opted for night curfews — steps that might impact livelihoods and jobs of hundreds and thousands of people once again.
{{/usCountry}}Two party strategists said that the meeting could also take into account the economic situation arising out the pandemic. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted by 3.6% in February signalling a weakness in the sequential economic recovery even before the beginning of second wave of Covid-19. With the increase in cases, Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialised states, announced a lockdown while many states have opted for night curfews — steps that might impact livelihoods and jobs of hundreds and thousands of people once again.
{{/usCountry}}With polling in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry over, CWC may also choose to review the election process. Both Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and leader Rahul Gandhi have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in recent days, suggesting measures to tackle the crisis.