Define exit strategy for lockdown: CWC to government

New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee in its meeting, held virtually, on Thursday demanded that the remaining period of lockdown should be used to prepare and publish a detailed 'exit strategy' and a comprehensive 'road map' for the future. "The states must be empowered to devise solutions to challenges due to COVID-19," says the resolution adopted unanimously by the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body. The ongoing nationwide lockdown is slated to end on May 3. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said after the meeting that the CWC noted with concern that the BJP was "seeking to inflame communal divisions' even as the entire nation battles COVID-19.

"The virus does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, religion or gender. As a nation, we must be wary of forces that seek to polarise in times of crisis such as these. The onus lies on us to ensure that we stand together as one nation in the face of all odds," the CWC resolution says.

"The CWC strongly recommends a complete loan moratorium on agricultural and other loans for a period of at least one year along with complete interest subvention," Venugopal said, while reading from the resolution.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it is tragic that "we are still lagging behind in establishing a robust and accurate testing regime' for COVID-19 infection. "Testing, Tracing, Quarantine and Treatment are crucial to containing the disease," he said, reading out from the CWC resolution.