After May 17th, what? asks Sonia

The Congress on Wednesday asked the government about the way forward and its economic plan after the current, third phase of the lockdown ends on May 17. “After May 17th, what? and After May 17th, how? ...What criteria is GOI using to judge how long the lockdown is to continue .... ”, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is understood to have asked at a meeting of chief ministers of Congress-ruled states.

Agreeing with the Congress president, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the party’s chief ministers to deliberate among themselves and question the Prime Minister on the exit strategy from the lockdown.

Most CMs and former finance minister P. Chidambaram also pointed out the deep financial stress the states are under. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “States are facing dire economic crisis. They need to be provided immediate assistance… Chhattisgarh is one state where 80 per cent of small industries have restarted and nearly 85,000 workers have returned to work.”

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said, “…Concern is people sitting in Delhi are deciding on classification of zones without knowing what’s happening on the ground.”

Puducherry CM V. Narayanswami said the Centre cannot decide zones and it should be left to the states to classify districts. All the CMs assured the Congress president that they were making arrangements to bear the cost of the return of migrant workers.