PM Modi chides Arvind Kejriwal for televising meeting, CMO ‘regrets’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers of states badly hit by the rampaging second wave of COVID, witnessed a few tense moments when the PM chided Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for ‘telecasting’ the proceedings.

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“Whatever is happening here… this is strictly against our tradition, our protocol… that some Chief Minister is showing a live telecast of an in-house meeting,” said a visibly-agitated Prime Minister cutting into Kejriwal’s speech.

The Prime Minister held a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of 10 of the most affected states from the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from Kejriwal, the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh were also among those present in the meeting.

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Meanwhile, a number of Union government officials also came down heavily on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo, accusing him of “playing politics”, PTI reported. His decision to broadcast the “private meeting” was a “new low” for someone in his position, they said. 

In light of the row, the Delhi Chief Minister’s Officie (CMO) expressed “regret” over the incident, but said it telecasted the meeting because there were no instructions from the Centre that the meeting could not be aired 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,” the CMO said.