New Delhi, July 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reprimanded those BJP MPs who missed the first few days of the Budget session. Speaking at the meeting of the BJP's parliamentary committee, PM Narendra Modi pulled up lawmakers who had been skipping Parliament sittings or its debates. The Prime Minister said the party is keeping a close watch on its MPs attendance in Parliament.
"How would you feel if Amit Shah were to come to your rally and didn’t show up at the last moment," PM Modi reportedly asked once. Then he turned, looked at some BJP MPs and repeated his question. And then again. "How would you feel… and you, how would you feel". Before PM Modi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also raised the issue of low attendance of BJP lawmakers.
Joshi pointed out that there weren’t many BJP MPs in the House when Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the controversial triple talaq bill. This is not the first time PM Modi admonished truant BJP lawmakers. In his first term too, PM Modi had to pull up lawmakers to increase their attendance in Parliament.
At one parliamentary party meeting, PM Modi had warned lawmakers that their attendance would be taken into account when the party has to give out tickets to contest the Lok Sabha elections. There had been occasions in the first term of PM Modi when sittings of parliament had to be deferred for want of quorum. The BJP had a clear majority in Lok Sabha.
Besides attendance, PM Modi also expressed anger over the attack on a municipal official in Madhya Pradesh by a BJP MLA. Akash Vijayvargiya, BJP legislator from Indore, thrashed a municipal corporation officer with a cricket bat while opposing a demolition drive. 'He's a Novice': Kailash Vijayvargiya Defends MLA-Son.
"Beta kisi ka bhi ho, manmaani nahi chalegi (Not concerned whose son he is, such arbitrariness would not work)," Modi said in reference to Akash, the son of BJP veteran and party's West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2019 06:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).