Veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday (April 6) said that India has now entered a "crucial two-week period". He also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's outreach to former prime ministers, presidents and some opposition leaders to hold discussion over COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.


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In a series of tweets, Chidambaram, 74, wrote about the steps taken by the Centre to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected over 4,000 people in the country so far. 


"India enters a crucial two week period today. So does the world. It is good that @narendramodi spoke to leaders of Opposition parties. I have no doubt that every one of them pledged support to the government's efforts to battle the spread of COVID-19," Chidambaram tweeted.



"If the Congress and other Opposition parties have pointed out the shortcomings in the measures taken by the government, it was in a spirit of constructive criticism and cooperation - a point highlighted in the CWC resolution of 2nd April, 2020," he said in another tweet.



Chidambaram reiterated that aggressive testing should be conducted across the country to fight the pandemic, which has already claimed 109 lives in India so far. 


On Sunday, PM Modi called two former Presidents Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil to hold discussions on COVID-19 related issues.


The prime minister also called two former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda to discuss the deadly virus and the steps taken by the governments at Central and state levels to combat the menace. 


He also called up leaders of various political parties like Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Singh, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, KCR, Stalin and Parkash Singh Badal.


India is under a 21-day lockdown period after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it on March 24 asking people to restrain for going out of their homes and maintain social distancing in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.