Sonia Gandhi writes to PM, suggests measures to save money to fight COVID-19
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting five measures to conserve money for the fight against COVID-19, including a complete ban on media advertisements by government and PSUs for two years and suspending the Central Vista beautification project.
The suggestions came after Modi reached out to several opposition leaders, including Gandhi, on Monday.
In her letter to the prime minister, Gandhi also called for ordering proportionate reduction of 30 per cent in expenditure budget (other than salaries, pensions and central sector schemes) for the government of India.
All foreign visits of the president, prime minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, state ministers and bureaucrats must be put on hold, she said.
The Congress chief called for transferring all money under the 'PM Cares' fund to the 'Prime Ministers National Relief Fund' to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability.
Asserting that the need of the hour is austerity measures to divert funds to the fight against COVID-19, she said, "Impose a complete ban on media advertisements - television, print and online - by the Government and PSU's for a period of two years."
Gandhi also called upon the PM to suspend the Rs 20,000 crore Central Vista beautification and construction project forthwith. I am certain that Parliament can function comfortably within existing historical buildings, she said.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
