PM Modi Speaks to BJP MPs, Tells Them to Take Work Seriously, Focus on Animal Welfare

The PM asked party MPs to keep an ear to the ground in their constituencies, adding that it was the first impression that mattered.

New Delhi: Animal welfare and humanitarian issues were what Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs to focus on during the parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday.

The PM asked party MPs to keep an ear to the ground in their constituencies, adding that it was the first impression that mattered. “MPs need to work as a team with officers. Focus on animal welfare as this is the season when animals fall ill,” he said.

Asking the MPs to attend Parliament regularly, the Prime Minister told them to take their roster duties seriously. While outlining the Government’s roadmap till 2025, the PM said, “Till 2025, the Government will target socially relevant issues. We need to focus on humanitarian issues like TB, leprosy or disability. We all must work on them on a mission mode.”

Prominent among the attendees were Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.

The BJP had issued a notice to its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs, asking them to ensure attendance at today’s parliamentary party meeting.

PM Modi is known to be a hard taskmaster and he had pulled up party members over indiscipline earlier this month at a similar meeting.

Clearly pointing a finger at Akash Vijayvargiya, son of veteran BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, for assaulting a civic official with a bat during a demolition drive in Indore, the Prime Minister had said, “Beta kisi ka bhi ho, manmaani nahi chalegi (It may be anyone’s son but bad behaviour will not be tolerated).”

In another meeting, PM Modi asked BJP MPs to hold padayatra in all Lok Sabha constituencies and walk about 150 km from October 2 to October 31, the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel respectively.

At the BJP’s first parliamentary party meeting after the presentation of the Budget, PM Modi had said the MPs must go also to the constituencies where the Bharatiya Janata Party is weak.