Modi warns party MPs against complacency

Govt's two year celebrations to not be Delhi-centric, will focus on districts and towns

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked his party's members of Parliament (MPs) to highlight the government’s policies and programmes to the people. In a veiled rebuke, the PM reminded his party’s Lok Sabha MPs that it wasn’t just the government that completes two years later this month, but so do they.

The underlying message at the weekly parliamentary party meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a party leader said, was obvious. “MPs will get reelected only if voters believe the government has performed,” the leader, who didn’t want to be named, said.

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After the meeting, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the PM identified schemes such as MUDRA loans, electrification of 18,000 villages, bringing around 30 million poor families under the LPG network and distribution of cheap LED lights as major successes.

“If you don’t spread the word who would,” Modi asked party MPs. The Modi government will complete two years of its five year term on May 26, 2016. Apart from MPs, the government’s publicity officers have also been asked to highlight its achievements.

Consistent with the government’s recalibrated approach to project its pro-farmer, pro-poor face and village-centric face, the celebrations will not be centred on Delhi or any other big city. Unlike last year, when ministers and MPs fanned out across some of the bigger cities across India to hold press conferences, the focus this time will be districts, smaller towns and blocks. The issue of Augusta Westland VVIP chopper scam, over which the BJP has targeted Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was also taken up at the meeting. The Rajya Sabha will debate it on Wednesday and the Lok Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said after the meet.