When prime minister Narendra Modi was recently engaged in dialogue with state chief ministers on the Corona second surge which is becoming out of control now, West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banarjee accused Modi of suppressing chief ministers’ voice. She alleged that CMs were just sitting like puppets. Mamta’s allegation is suitable to her extraordinary nature of politics. But, her allegation against the prime minister brought one thing to the fore and that is there is a lack of coordination between the center and states on the extremely grave issue like Corona's second surge. Corona has become now a menace that can’t be defeated by a single person’s efforts. Collective efforts are needed and therefore states should be taken into confidence by the center. At the same time, states should also suggest some concrete measures instead of just handing over all the responsibilities to the center. Some states’ attitude is of non-cooperation to the center. Everybody should remember that this is not the time of playing politics. Last year, initially center took all the reigns of fighting against the Corona pandemic into its own hands. But, when it realized that, the situation was going out of control, it started to accommodate states in the decision process. But, it was too late. Now, there is open enmity can be seen between two branches of federalism. One of the important aspects of the country’s fight against the virus last year was the coordination between the Centre and state governments. Rising above party-level differences, they evolved synergies that helped tide over the shortage of critical resources like healthcare centers, testing kits, ventilators, and PPEs, facilitated the framing of contact tracing protocols, and promoted knowledge sharing. Differences of opinion, such as those over designating containment zones or methods to count the Covid infected, were swiftly sorted out. Such cohesion has, unfortunately, been at a premium at critical moments in the past three months. The Centre and some Opposition-ruled states have not been on the same page over vaccine allocation, oxygen shortages have created discord and chief ministers have complained of not being heard at meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Two weeks ago, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren said that, in a telephone conversation, “the PM only spoke his mind”. Now West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has described Modi’s meeting with CMs, on Thursday, as “one-way humiliation. Even if their party line approach is ignored, PM must listen to the states also not only for their benefit but the center’s own advantage. If states work efficiently, the burden on the center will also be removed to a considerable extent. As in company management, the delegation of responsibility is very necessary. The Center should delegate equal responsibility to states which would make it easy to handle problems less hard. The BJP has accused Banerjee of politicizing the meeting.  The acrimony between West Bengal’s ruling party and its main Opposition force may well have been a reason for Banerjee’s outburst. But as PM Modi and several Union ministers have rightly pointed out earlier, cooperation between the Centre and states is elementary to the fight against the virus. This wisdom should prevail on both sides. Dealing with an adversary that has assumed a much more lethal avatar, calls for keeping the TMC-BJP conflict in abeyance and paying heed to the objections expressed by the West Bengal CM. Experts reckon that flattening the curve will be more exacting this year because the virus is constantly presenting new challenges — the black fungus disease, for example. Already, there are reports of a shortage of amphotericin B, the antidote to this fungal infection. Ensuring supplies will require the Centre and states to put their heads together. During his meeting with state officials on Thursday, the prime minister talked of the significance of robust data and solid analyses to combat the mutating pathogen. He urged district-level officers to collect information on the spread of the virus amongst children and youth. What we need now is a spirit of cooperative federalism from both sides. States also have become habitual of passing away all the responsibility to center and sitting idly. This is not fair on their part.