Amid India’s rise in COVID-19 cases, PM Modi interacted with Chief Ministers on April 27, urging them to follow test, track, treat, vaccination and ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour.
He spoke about the need for States to regularly monitor and report data, maintain effective surveillance, upgrade infrastructure and utilise funds given by the Centre.
Singling out non-BJP-ruled States such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Jharkhand, Mr. Modi said that while a request was made by the Centre to States to reduce VAT, these States did not do so.
“These States should bring in immediate remedial measures to stop this injustice. This harms the neighbouring States also. States like Karnataka and Gujarat undertook the tax reduction for the welfare of the people despite revenue loss while their neighbouring States earned revenue by not reducing tax,” he said in the virtual meeting.
Miffed with the PM for targeting non-BJP states, CMs like Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee, and Arvind Kejriwal claimed that his remarks on high prices of petrol and diesel were misleading and one-sided. They complained that the Centre has adopted a “step–motherly” attitude towards Opposition–ruled States.
Many PM-CM meetings in the past have seen such direct showdowns between the Prime Minister and non-BJP CMs.
Here is a look at how PM-CM meetings have played out so far:
Precedents to PM-CM meeting
While Prime Ministers have often interacted with CMs on various government and private platforms, a review meeting with the CMs on a particular issue began with the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020.
Prior to this, since 2015, the Prime Minister had interacted with all State CMs, CMs of Union territories with legislature, and Lt.Governors of other Union territories in the Governing Council of NITI Aayog. The Governing Council is tasked with evolving a shared vision of national priorities and strategies with the active involvement of States. It also presents a platform to discuss inter-sectoral, inter-departmental and federal issues to implement the national development agenda. So far, six meetings of the Governing Council have been held under PM Modi’s chairmanship.
Apart from this forum, all State CMs interact with the Chief Justices of High Courts in the day-long joint CM-CJ conference which is traditionally inaugurated and addressed by the Prime Minister. However, the CMCJ conference is held or effective coordination of efforts towards providing speedy justice to citizens of the country. While the last CMCJ conference was held in 2016, the latest one was held on April 30 after a gap of six years.
PM-CM meetings since onset of COVID-19 pandemic
The first PM-CM meeting was convened on March 20, 2020, ahead of a day-long ‘Janta Curfew’ PM Modi had called for before imposing a 21-day nationwide lockdown. At the meeting attended by all State CMs/Governors, PM Mr. Modi discussed the possibility of imposing a lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across India. Most CMs were in agreement with the Centre on imposing a strict lockdown, giving India’s healthcare system adequate time to prepare for the pandemic.
After imposing a nationwide lockdown on March 25, PM Modi held another PM-CM meeting to review the spread of COVID-19 and to tackle the migrant crisis as thousands of labourers begin to walk back to their native homes amid shutdown of factories. In consensus with all State CMs, the lockdown was extended till May 3, and later, May 16. In subsequent meetings, most CMs agreed with the Centre on extending the lockdown.
By June 2020, Centre began slowly ‘unlocking’ the nation, with many restrictions being lifted. In the PM-CM meeting ahead of the ‘Unlock’ phases, some CMs suggested keeping their State borders shut to states with higher infection rates like Maharashtra, Delhi, and Kerala. However, in consecutive meetings, the PM assured CMs that the States will have powers to tweak restrictions.
After the ‘Unlock’ phases, PM Modi convened another meeting with the CMs ahead of the nationwide rollout of vaccines for health workers and citizens above 60 years of age. Coordinating dry-runs with the States, the Centre rolled out the world’s biggest vaccination program. In subsequent PM-CM meetings, the States aired grievances of supply shortage, the COVID-19 second wave, and irregular pricing of vaccine doses.
Politics during PM-CM meetings
The first major tiff between the PM and the CMs was during the initial stages of the vaccine rollout. There was a faceoff between Mr. Modi and CM Mamata Banerjee over COVID-19 death data from West Bengal, leading to her accusing Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) of targeting her State (a non-BJP and poll-bound state) on purpose.
The other public outburst during the PM-CM meetings was during the oxygen shortage in Delhi during the second COVID-19 wave (April-May 2021). Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was reprimanded by Modi for broadcasting his interaction with the PM while requesting additional oxygen supply to Delhi from States like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana.
In the latest PM-CM meeting, Mr. Kejriwal was accused of being ‘mannerless’ by the BJP after he was spotted in a relaxed position while Mr. Modi was speaking on reducing VAT on fuel. After the meeting, many States, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and West Bengal have refused to reduce VAT stating that it was up to the Centre to keep fuel prices low.
