Covid-19: TMC wants virtual parliamentary committee meetings, Congress backs

TMC MP Derek O'Brien in a tweet on Monday said the party has sent three letters to the Centre requesting virtual parliamentary meetings but with no result.

"Narendra & Amit. (Yes that’s the form of address. Guess why!) Since July last year, Trinamool hv written 3 letters to the powers-that-be to allow #Parliament Committee meetings to be held VIRTUALLY. Not allowing virtual meetings means Oppn can’t hold GOI accountable #COVID19" O'Brien tweeted.

The tweet was supported by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who said his party was also making the same request.

Ramesh quoted the TMC Rajya Sabha MP's tweet saying, "And Congress too has been making similar requests of the LS Speaker and RS Chairman."

Quoting Ramesh's tweet, Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor took a dig at the Centre saying, "There is an old saying, you can't wake a man who is pretending to sleep!"

The tweets by the Congress and TMC, the two largest opposition parties in Parliament, can be seen as a way of further cornering the Narendra Modi government, who is facing massive public ire and criticism over its handling of the second wave of Covid-19.

At a time India is reporting over three lakh cases on a daily basis though the unofficial figure seems much higher, the country is struggling to provide vaccines to all people due to shortage.

The Centre is also bearing the biggest pie of the blame due to the shortage of oxygen in various hospitals.

As per national and international media, hospitals across the country are overwhelmed with Covid patients, crematoriums ran out of dead bodies, pyres burning round the clock while the car parking lots are converted into crematoriums.