New Delhi, April 4 In a buildup to '9 Baje 9 Minute' on Sunday, BJP chief J.P. Nadda on Saturday held video conferencing with party leaders for the second consecutive day. He interacted with leaders from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and the North-East.
On Friday, he had interaction with Uttar Pradesh leaders.
Nadda addressed the state BJP Presidents, state general secretaries (organisation), party MPs, MLAs, office-bearers and district presidents of these states. BJP General Secretary B.L. Santosh was also present.
The interaction focused on building the tempo for Sunday for which PM Modi has urged Ind to light candles to show solidarity with corona warriors.
Earlier PM Modi in a short video message to Ind said, "I request all of of you to switch off all the lights of your house on April 5 at 9 p.m. for 9 minutes, and just light a candle, 'diya', or mobile's flashlight, to mark our fight against coronavirus."
The BJP President urged the state leadership to "encourage others to follow the appeal" of the Prime Minister.
During the course of interaction, he asked the leaders to make the use of masks as a mass campaign. "We should promote cleanliness. We are delivering food to five crore poor and needy people of the country every day,
but we need to spread awareness among the people about every aspect of prevention of corona," he said.
Nadda listed the steps taken by the Centre to fight coronavirus on a war footing, expecting them to spread the message. He said the Modi government has released Rs 17,287 crore to the states and the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the grant of Rs 11,092 crore from the State Disaster Hazard Management Fund (SDRMF) to the states.
The BJP President told the state unit leaders that 1.52 lakh beds, 4,307 hospitals, 33,000 ICU beds and 16,000 ventilators are ready to fight corona in the country. He also added that 10,000 personal protection kits are being prepared every day. This is an effort for the BJP to dispel narratives that the government is battling lack of health infrastructure.
He requested all BJP MPs, MLAs, state presidents to donate in the 'PM Cares Fund' so that "the fight against corona is not weakened". Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, the Modi government has started transferring the first installment of the relief package to the accounts of more than 20 crore women holding Jan-Dhan accounts, he said.
He also urged everyone to promote the mobile app named Arogya Setu which was launched to combat the corona virus.
"This will enable people to assess the risk of catching corona infection. We should download it in our smartphones and inspire others to follow suit," said Nadda.
( With inputs from IANS )