New Delhi, August 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday instructed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs to remain grounded after becoming parliamentarian or minister. Speaking at BJP’s two-day orientation programme — Abhyas Varg — PM Narendra Modi urged his party’s lawmakers to remain connected with the grass-root workers who contributed to their rise to power. BJP to Hold Compulsory Abhyas Varga For MPs in Order to Instill Discipline, PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to Brief Lawmakers.

“Once the party workers become MPs, they should not forget the party and its workers. They should always remain connected with the workers who have toiled for them, and not just during the election time,” a BJP worker who attended the programme was quoted by TOI as saying. PM Modi also asked BJP parliamentarians to be in a learning mode always.

“The party worker in you should always remain alive even after you become a minister or an MP. Irrespective of your age, always remain a student so that the learning process goes on,” parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi quoted PM Modi as saying. The prime minister likened BJP to a mother who nurtures her son (party workers). “But she (the party) feels neglected when he gets married and pays more attention to his wife,” PM Modi said.

In an apparent dig at the Congress party and the Gandhi family, PM Modi said BJP drew strength from its ideology and not the legacy of “one family”. “Team BJP is an organic entity, not an assembled entity. BJP is parivar and the workers are an important figure. BJP is growing because of its ideology and not because of the legacy of a family,” PM Modi was further quoted as saying by Joshi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 04, 2019 09:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).