New Delhi, March 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, will observe a day-long fast in order to show dissent over the recent lockdown during the Budget session of Parliament. PM Modi has asked his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers to ‘expose’ those few people who ‘throttled’ democracy by stalling Budget Session proceedings in the Parliament. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by a slew of BJP leaders who will be observing fast too, at different parts of the country.

It seems that the recent logjam in the Parliament hasn’t gone down well PM Modi. The recent Budget Session in the Parliament was one of the most unproductive sessions in nearly two decades. The party in power, BJP, has blamed the Opposition led by Congress for the deadlock.

PM Modi has asked BJP lawmakers to hold interactions with people and media in their respective constituencies and expose Congress for the Budget Session’s washout. While addressing the BJP MPs through teleconferencing on the occasion of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule the Prime Minister said, “Those who couldn’t gain power in 2014 do not want the country to move forward. They didn’t let the Parliament function for a single day. They killed the democracy and we will bring their crime in front of everybody. I will also fast, but I will continue my work too.”

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu will be observing fast with PM Modi in the national capital. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Health Minister JP Nadda are scheduled to travel Patna and Varanasi for the same.

As per the schedule devised by BJP, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will observe fast in Chennai, Minister of State (External Affairs) MJ Akbar will be in Vidisha; while Tourism minister K J Alphons will observe the fast in Kerala.

Both, BJP President Amit Shah and Human Resource Minister Prakash Javadekar will in observing fast in poll-Karnataka in cities of Hubli and Bengaluru respectively. Over 2,000 BJP MPs, MLAs, and MLCs are slated to observe fast on April 12, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The fast comes after the Congress party had recently resorted to fast in protest of violence against the Dalit organisations during the recent bandh. The fast fell flat on the Congress as some of the ‘fasting’ leaders of Congress party were seen having breakfast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the 10th edition of Defence Expo in Chennai, later in the day. Major manufacturers like Tata, Bharat Forge, Mahindra, DRDO, HAL amongst many others will be participating in the event.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 12, 2018 09:47 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).