PM Modi's meet with CMs highlights: PM recalls ‘Team India’ effort during Covid-19 pandemic in meeting with CMs

PM Modi's receive with CMs highlights: ground government minister Narendra Modi emphasised on the demand of centre-state coordination to tackle the crisis caused by the state of war in West Asia when he spoke with the chief ministers of all states, except those heading poll-bound regions, to review their preparedness and plans in light of the West Asia conflict.PM urged the chief ministers to act against black marketing practices in their respective state amid the energy crisis. India is facing challenge of securing enough energy supplies after the US-Iran war started in West Asia. The Hormus Strait, the narrow lane in West Asia through which a major part of India's energy supply comes, has been blocked ever since the war started in the region.Union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh are among the key leaders attending PM Modi’s meeting. Also participating in the meeting are Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.Amid the energy crisis, govt-run Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Delhi has asked students of undergraduate batches, masters first year, and PhD first year batches to leave the campus for the respective homes and their classes will be conducted online from April 6, 2026.The interaction, which comes days after the PM urged the state governments to work together as ‘Team India’, will be held virtually just as it used to be done during the Covid pandemic, HT earlier reported.This will be the first time the prime minister convenes a meeting with chief ministers on the West Asia conflict, which began on February 28 following an attack by the US and Israel on Iran. The Persian nation has since retaliated by targeting its Gulf neighbours and Israel.Key pointsThe prime minister will interact with the CMs on Friday evening through video conferencing on the West Asia conflict to review preparedness and plans of states. The meeting will focus on ensuring synergy of efforts in the spirit of Team India.The interaction will review the preparedness of the states to meet the challenge of supply chain issues and constraints in the availability of cooking gas and fuel and will be in line with the PM’s efforts to build a collaborative effort to overcome the challenge, people aware of the matter, cited in the earlier HT report, said.Chief ministers of states going to the polls will not participate in the meeting due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Cabinet Secretariat will separately hold a meeting with the chief secretaries of poll-bound Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday dismissed rumours of a nationwide lockdown, saying the government is not considering any such move. Urging people to remain calm, he called the spread of such speculation “irresponsible and harmful”, especially amid an ongoing global crisis.The central government has increased commercial LPG allocations to states by 20 per cent, taking the total quota to 70 per cent of pre-crisis demand to support industrial needs, including sectors such as steel and automobiles.The CMs’ meeting follows an all-party meeting convened by the government on Wednesday around 5 pm to discuss the ongoing West Asia conflict, which erupted after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.Defence minister Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting, with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri in attendance. The meeting was held inside the Parliament building around 5 pm.