Rajnath to convene all-party meet on West Asia today

The government will hold an all-party meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the escalating West Asia crisis. The move comes amid building up of an energy crisis, mainly consisting of cooking gas shortage.The meeting has also been called after Opposition parties, led by the Congress, pressed the government to hold deliberations over the situation arising out of the West Asia crisis.

The meeting is likely to be convened by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not available, said sources.

Meanwhile, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge will lead the Opposition parties as Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is on a tour to poll-bound Kerala, where Assembly elections are due next month.

Earlier in the day, Modi told the Rajya Sabha that the government had constituted seven empowered groups to evolve strategies on fuel, supply chains and fertilisers among other areas, to manage the impact of the Iran-Israel-US conflict.

In the Lok Sabha on Monday, the PM had said that the difficult global conditions caused by the West Asia conflict were likely to persist for a long time and had called upon the nation to remain prepared and united, just as it had stood together during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rahul had also attacked Modi, claiming that the PM was “compromised” and could not participate in a parliamentary debate, while criticising his statement on the West Asia conflict in Lok Sabha.

Speaking at the Adivasi Adhikar Samvidhan Sammelan in Vadodara, Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister avoided naming the United States in his Lok Sabha address. He further said Modi was “100 per cent under the control” of US President Donald Trump.