Change or there will be changes: PM to BJP MPS
NEW DELHI: Parliamentarians of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must regularly attend House proceedings or face consequences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned colleagues at the parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday.
“Apne aap mein parivartan laiye, warna parivartan apne aap aa jata hai (change yourselves, or changes happen on their own),” the Prime Minister said, according to several lawmakers present at the meeting.
Modi’s statement was seen as a warning to the party’s MPS that their performance in Parliament would be a determinant while deciding tickets ahead of the next elections. The Prime Minister is learnt to have expressed concern over the attendance of lawmakers and underscored that people had elected MPS to represent them in Parliament and, therefore, their first priority should be attending the proceedings.
“The Prime Minister reiterated the necessity to adhere to party discipline — be punctual, come prepared and not speak out of turn,” a party functionary said on condition of anonymity.
The government has been facing a combative Opposition in both Houses of Parliament. Opposition parties have closed ranks over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPS for the duration of the winter session and have sought to pin the treasury benches on a host of issues, including price rise and the killing of civilians in Nagaland by security forces.
This is not the first time that Modi has pulled up his party colleagues for being absent during the proceedings in Parliament. It was also underlined during the monsoon session in August.
He had then asked Pralhad Joshi, parliamentary affairs minister, to prepare a list of absent MPS when the party had to struggle to ensure their presence in Rajya Sabha during the passage of the Tribunal Amendment Bill.
Modi also instructed the MPS to focus on health and wellness at the Tuesday meeting, urging them to co-opt people to join the Poshan Abhiyan, a campaign against malnutrition, and organise sports events and competitions to drive home the message of fitness. He urged party MPS to organise programmes to felicitate the Padma award winners.
“The PM instructed the MPS to hold Sansad Khel Sparda and Sansad Tandurust Bal Sparda (sports competitions) to encourage the youth to take up sports.”
BJP MPS must meet the presidents of all mandals and districts in their respective constituencies to keep “live contact” with party workers, the party’s president JP Nadda said. Supporting his suggestion, Modi is learnt to have said that he will meet the zila and mandal presidents when he visits his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on December 14. Nadda also said the party should host farmers’ conferences (kisan sammelan) and felicitate those who have improvised farming practices. The meeting, in Ambedkar International Centre outside the precincts of Parliament for the first time, was attended by senior ministers, including home minister Amit Shah, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, foreign minister S Jaishankar and Pralhad Joshi.