PM Modi meets ex-ministers over breakfast

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told ministerial colleagues from his first term in office to keep engaging with the electorate and ensure that the government’s policies and schemes reach their intended beneficiaries.

On Wednesday, the prime minister met MPs who were part of his council of ministers between 2014 and 2019 over breakfast.

The PM is learnt to have told the MPs and ex-ministers that there should be constant engagement between the people, elected representatives and ministers to help the government remain informed about public sentiment.

He is also learnt to have told the former ministers that they should continue to undertake outreach campaigns to connect with the people and keep their ear to the ground.

“The PM is meeting all the MPs in groups; he wants to have a connection with each MP. First he hosted all the MPs, cutting across party lines for dinner and now he is meeting the BJP MPs in batches and the message is to ensure that they don’t slack,” said a party functionary who requested anonymity.

While he’s already met MPs from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes, over the week he will meet a group of women MPs and then first-time MPs.

According to another functionary, since the number of first-time Bharatiya Janata Party (NJP) MPs is 133, the members will be divided into groups of those under 45 years of age and those above.

“The PM keeps reiterating that the MPs should constantly be in action mode. He told us that MPs who have won elections should not sit back. He came up with the idea of paying tribute to Mahatama Gandhi and Sardar Patel on their birth anniversary by carrying out padyatras, but left it to the party to decide how it will be taken forward. Either the MPs can walk for 150 kms or form groups of 150 people to undertake the yatra,” the second functionary said.