PM Modi & CMs to hold key meeting as Covid spikes dangerously; WB CM Mamata to skip

The heat of the political fight in the West Bengal assembly election has continued to affect cooperative federalism as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to attend the meeting with CMs called by PM Narendra Modi over the COVID situation on April 8. As per sources, West Bengal will be represented by Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay at the meeting with PM Modi. 

In the meeting, PM Modi will interact with chief ministers of all states and union territories as the country is witnessing a sharp increase in daily Covid-19 cases. They will be discussing the Covid-19 situation and the vaccination strategy via video conferencing. Mamata Banerjee's decision to skip the Covid-19 meet with PM Modi comes in the backdrop of ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal in which her ruling Trinamool Congress party (TMC) is engaged in a fierce battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Talking about the West Bengal assembly elections, voting for 294-member assembly elections is underway. 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, India registered a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new coronavirus 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 updated on Thursday showed.

The daily spike in coronavirus cases has been raising tensions across India. According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 12 states in India, where cases of COVID-19 are increasing and people are being killed due to the infection. These states are Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala. In terms of the total caseload, Maharashtra is followed by the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 

Recently, a night curfew was imposed in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Prayagraj due to the spike in Covid cases in the country's most populous state. Uttar Pradesh logged in 6,002 new cases, pushing its total caseload to over 6.45 lakh.

(Image Credits: PTI)