New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to chair a meeting with the Council of Ministers on Wednesday (July 14), said sources.

This will be PM Modi’s second meeting with the Council of Ministers after the Union Cabinet reshuffle on July 7.

A day after the expansion of the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister had back-to-back meetings with the union cabinet and council of ministers on Thursday.

In the meeting on Thursday, sources said that Prime Minister had cautioned Ministers against any complacency in the fight against COVID-19, saying that over the past few days there have been pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or social distancing and “it should instil a sense of fear in us”.

The sources said the Prime Minister noted that people not following COVID-19 protocols was not a “pleasant sight”.

He stressed India’s fight against the pandemic is underway with full vigour with the vaccination programme going on steadily and testing numbers also consistently high.

In the meeting on Thursday, the Prime Minister had appreciated his former ministerial colleagues who were dropped after the Cabinet reshuffle Wednesday, saying they all contributed in the development work executed by his government and advised the newly sworn-in ministers to learn from their experience, sources said.

Modi said some leaders are now not part of the government due to certain situations and circumstances, in an apparent reference to Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar who resigned before the Cabinet rejig. The sources said Modi appreciated Prasad and Javadekar for their work.

In a word of advice, he said it is the work that only matters and the ministers should not get trapped in the vicious circle of grabbing media attention. He said ministers should avoid making unnecessary statements.