Present details of work done in 5 yrs: PMO to BJP MPS

FEEDBACK FROM WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE PARTY WILL MATTER IN DECIDING WHO GETS A TICKET TO CONTEST AND WHO DOESN’T

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) details of projects undertaken by its Members of Parliament (MPS) in the past five years, in what appears to be a review of sorts before tickets are allotted for the summer general elections.

A senior BJP leader familiar with the developments said party MPS had undertaken several development projects over five years and published various booklets and pamphlets to publicize their work. “The Prime Minister’s Office [PMO] has sought five copies of such documents from each MP,” the leader said, not wishing to be named.

“We have written to the MPS asking them to share these by February 20, so that they can be forwarded to the PMO.”

The PMO periodically reviews the performance of BJP MPS, and feedback received from sources within and outside the party matters in deciding who gets tickets and who doesn’t, a second BJP leader said, requesting not to be identified.

“In every interaction with MPS over the last five years, Modi has repeatedly insisted that they be active in their constituencies and take government programmes to the people,” the second leader said.

At the recent BJP national council meeting in Delhi, he asked party leaders not to simply depend on the “Modi factor”.

Experts see a pattern in such an exercise. As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi used to depend on feedback from different sources to decide whether a sitting legislator stood a chance to be re-elected, said Sanjeev Tiwari, associate professor of political science at Delhi University.

››FULL REPORT, P9