Asaduddin Owaisi fumes as AIMIM's MP count excludes him from Covid conference with PM Modi

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has insulted the people of Hyderabad and Aurangabad by not allowing AIMIM representative to be a part of the April 8 meeting. Tagging PMO India's official Twitter handle, Owaisi questioned whether the people of Hyderabad are lesser humans because they voted for AIMIM, referring to a notice that the Prime Minister would be videoconferencing with floor leaders of parties that have more than 5 MPs in Parliament.

'Are they lesser humans because they chose AIMIM?'

Asking for an explanation from PM Modi, Owaisi wrote, "Please explain why they're not worthy of your kind attention? As MPs, it's our job to represent you the economic and humanitarian misery of the people."

Owaisi stressed that he needed to be a part of the video interaction with Prime Minister to discuss his ideas on fighting the pandemic. "People of Hyderabad & Aurangabad elected me and Imtiaz Jaleel so that we'll raise their issues. Now, we're being denied an audience with His Highness. Hyderabad has 93 active COVID-19 cases, I want to put forth our ideas on how we can fight this pandemic and identify areas where we're lacking."

PM Modi to interact with floor leaders of political parties

Amid a countrywide lockdown due to COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with floor leaders of various political parties via a video link on April 8 and discuss ways to strengthen the fight against the disease. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with floor leaders of political parties (who have more than five MPs in Parliament) through video conferencing on April 8 at 11 am," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a release.

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AIMIM has two MPS which is less than the number of MPs a party required to attend the meeting with the Prime Minister. As per the 9 pm update issued by the ICMR, a total of 11,182 samples were tested on Saturday. Of these, 324 tested positive taking the number of confirmed cases in the country to 3,113. The death toll has now mounted to 75.

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(With agency inputs)