West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to skip Covid review meet with PM Modi today
PM Modi will interact with chief ministers of all states and union territories on Thursday as the country is witnessing a sharp spike in daily Covid-19 cases.
FollowWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will skip the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday with all Chief Ministers to discuss the Covid-19 situation and vaccination drive.
PM Modi will interact with chief ministers of all states and union territories on Thursday as the country is witnessing a sharp spike in daily Covid-19 cases. They will be discussing the Covid-19 situation and the vaccination strategy via video conferencing.
Mamata Banerjee has cited her election campaign in poll-bound West Bengal as the reason for her unavailability. Instead, West Bengal's chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay is likely to attend the meeting.
Voting for 294-member assembly elections is underway in West Bengal. It is taking place in eight phases and three phases have already taken place. It will conclude on April 29 and the counting will take place on May 2.
Meanwhile, the issue of vaccine shortage flagged by some states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh is likely to be discussed in the meeting. The Centre, however, had rejected claims of vaccine shortage. In recent weeks, some chief ministers have joined the chorus for relaxing age criteria for Covid-19 vaccination.
India registered a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new Covid-19 cases, pushing its infection tally to 1,29,28,574, while the number of active cases too went upwards to breach the nine lakh-mark again, Union Health Ministry data showed.
In the earlier meeting, PM Modi had expressed concern over the rise in Covid-19 cases in parts of the country and called for "quick and decisive" steps to check the "emerging second peak".
