New Delhi, April 29: Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi will release a series of video-dialogues with public intellectuals on Thursday, and the first to feature in this series is former Governor of Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan. During the interaction, Rahul Gandhi and Raghuram Rajan will discuss the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the Indian economy. The pre-recorded dialogue conducted through video-conferencing will be released at 9 am tomorrow. Rahul Gandhi Asks Modi Government to Scale Up Testing For Coronavirus, Says 'Lockdown Cannot Defeat Virus'.

Sharing a teaser of the over an hour-long discussion, the Congress tweeted: "Shri @RahulGandhi will be interacting with Former RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan on the critical issues related to COVID-19 and its economic impact. Tune in tomorrow at 9 am to watch this interaction on our social media platforms (sic)." According to Congress's social media head Rohan Gupta, the duo will discuss the impact of coronavirus on the economy and how the pandemic can be turned into an opportunity. Raghuram Rajan Cautions Against Giving Communal Colour to Coronavirus.

Teaser of Rahul Gandi, Raghuram Rajan's Discussion on Coronavirus Crisis:

"This is the first in a series of videos dialogues that Gandhi will be conducting with intellectuals, including public health specialists and activists working on the grass-root level across the world,” a Congress functionary," a Congress functionary told Hindustan Times. Asserting that the series will be unique, another functionary said: "He (Gandhi) is not talking about the BJP at all. The entire conversation revolves around the state of the economy."

Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi has formed an 11-member panel under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s leadership to deliberate on matters related to the coronavirus outbreak. The panel includes Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Singh Surjewala, KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Jairam Ramesh, Praveen Chakravarty, Gaurav Vallabh, Supriya Shrinate and Rohan Gupta.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi held a video press conference during which he had said that the nationwide lockdown cannot defeat coronavirus. Rahul Gandhi said the lockdown only halts coronavirus and once the shutdown is over the number of cases will increase. To avert this situation, Gandhi said, the government should scale up testing.

The Wayand MP also said that this is not the time to fight with the government but give constructive suggestions in the fight against coronavirus. While he said he differed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but said, "I don't want to get involved in 'Tu Tu Main Main' (blame game) as the country is fighting a tough battle against the virus and we will only be successful to contain it when everybody works together."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 29, 2020 11:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).