Vajpayee birthday to be 'Good Governance Day'; no undue show wanted: Modi

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday Dec 25 will be observed as "Good Governance Day", Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Tuesday, as he asked party MPs to desist from any form of artificial display.

Briefing the media on the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary board's meeting, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said Modi told MPs not to undertake any activity "for the purpose of display or show".

He said Modi told the MPs that their acts should be "genuine".

The prime minister's remarks are being seen in the context of the much-publicised Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India mission) of the government which has drawn criticism from the Congress.

"The prime minister's remarks were in context of sanitation," a BJP parliamentarian, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has taken digs at the government, describing the sanitation programme as a "photo opportunity".

Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyaya was last month seen clearing garbage that was allegedly dumped on purpose for a photo opportunity.

Though Upadhyay later clarified that he was invited by an organisation for the event and was not aware about the garbage being dumped deliberately, BJP's rivals in Delhi came down heavily on the party.

Rudy said all party MPs will devote an hour for sanitation Dec 25.

He said Modi will be in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi Dec 25 and take part in a sanitation drive.

Modi told the parliamentarians to monitor the progress of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and asked them about their interest in sports.

BJP president Amit Shah, who also addressed the meeting, asked the parliamentarians to step up efforts to recruit at least 10 crore members in the party.

"The target is 10 crore from the existing four crore," Rudy said, adding that the party's online membership had crossed one crore.

He said a victory for the BJP was "most important" in Delhi and added that it will hold 2,000 "small, big public meetings" by the third week of December.

The meetings will be addressed by almost all the 325 BJP MPs in the two houses of parliament.

Rudy said each Rajya Sabha member had been asked to adopt at least one Lok Sabha seat which the BJP had never won and nurture it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu complimented Modi for his "successful" visits to Australia and Nepal. A booklet was released on Modi's visits.

On the Good Governance Day, a core committee has been formed with Rudy and party leader Ananth Kumar as members to work on the various suggestions.

Rudy said the parliamentarians will have meetings with the core committee over the next three days to give their ideas on good governance.

Asked about complaints by opposition MPs about the absence of the prime minister from the Rajya Sabha, Rudy said Modi keeps track of parliament. "I don't think that is an issue."