KEJRIWAL MAKES OXYGEN APPEAL, CHIDED BY PM FOR AIRING IN-HOUSE MEET
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that an acute shortage of oxygen in city hospitals could lead to a “big tragedy”, and requested him to order states to not obstruct passage of tankers, but received flak from Modi for publicly broadcasting the closed-door meeting. But the decision to livestream his remarks drew the ire of Modi, who interrupted Kejriwal to admonish him. “What is happening is strictly against our protocol and tradition, that some chief minister is live telecasting an in-house meeting,” said the PM.
THE DECISION TO LIVESTREAM HIS REMARKS DREW IRE OF CENTRE; PM INTERRUPTED KEJRIWAL TO ADMONISH HIM
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that an acute shortage of oxygen in city hospitals could lead to a “big tragedy”, and requested him to order states to not obstruct passage of tankers, but received flak from Modi for publicly broadcasting the closed-door meeting.
At a meeting of chief ministers of high-caseload states with the PM, Kejriwal apprised Modi about the grim situation in Delhi, where several hospitals have struggled with a deluge of Covid-19 patients and approached the high court or sent out distress messages with only a few hours of supply left.
“PM sir, please, make a phone call to the chief ministers of the states where maximum trucks (oxygen tankers) are being stopped so that oxygen can reach Delhi,” he said. But the decision to livestream his remarks on Delhi government’s social media channels drew the ire of the Centre and Modi, who interrupted Kejriwal to admonish him.
“What is happening is strictly against our protocol and tradition, that some chief minister is live telecasting an in-house meeting,” said the PM. “This is not appropriate, we should always maintain restraint,” he added. Kejriwal immediately apologised. “We will keep this in mind in the future.” He later said, “If there was any mistake, if I said anything harsh or in my conduct, I apologise.”
The meeting came amid a record surge in infections in Delhi that has overrun hospitals, crematoriums and graveyards.
Two days ago, the Delhi high court issued instructions to ensure seamless supply of oxygen after a prominent hospital said it had only hours of supply left, and the Union ministry of home affairs invoked the Disaster Management Act for the unobstructed passage of oxygen, but the crisis has persisted with more institutions approaching the judiciary with the same problem on Friday.
The controversy over Delhi government’s decision to live telecast Kejriwal’s remarks refused to die down hours after the meeting was over. Central government officials told news agency ANI that the CM played politics at the meeting. “Kejriwal has descended to a new low. For the first time, the private conversations of the PM’s meeting with CMs were televised,” officials told ANI. But the CM’s office defended itself, saying it did not receive any direction from the Prime Minister’s Office that such interactions cannot be telecast live. “Today, the CM’s address was shared live because there has never been any instruction, written or verbal, from the Centre that the said interaction could not be shared live. There have been multiple occasions of similar interactions where matters of public importance, which had no confidential information, were shared live. However, if any inconvenience was caused we highly regret that,” it said.