BJP president Amit Shah has asked party MPs to be present in Parliament and attend a two-day orientation programme over the weekend.
“Your attendance for the orientation programme on August 3-4 is a must,” Shah, also the Union home minister, reportedly told the MPs on Tuesday at the BJP’s closed-door weekly parliamentary party meeting.
Most MPs leave for their constituencies on weekends, when both Houses of Parliament are closed. But the message from Shah was clear: stay back for the two-day programme organised by the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who usually addresses the weekly meeting, was present but did not speak and allowed Shah to address the party MPs from both Houses.
Shah also asked the MPs to ensure their presence for the remaining part of the Parliament session, stressing that important bills would be passed.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters Shah noted that the Opposition has been pressing for a division of votes during passage of bills and so the presence of party MPs was necessary.
Shah also pointed out that during the vote over the national medical commission bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, only 260 NDA members were present. The BJP alone has 303 MPs in the lower House.
In the past too, Modi and Shah have asked MPs to take parliamentary proceedings seriously after finding out that many of them, including some ministers, were absent during passage of bills.
About the presence of MPs for the two-day orientation programme, Shah said it was a must since the party’s ideology would be discussed apart from parliamentary rules and procedures.
Minister Joshi told reporters a good number of important bills have been passed in the current session of Parliament but 11 were yet to be tabled. He said all BJP MPs have been asked to remain present even if it was late in the day to ensure that as many bills as possible can be passed.
The ongoing session of Parliament started on June 17 and was scheduled to end on July 26. The government, however, has extended the session till August 7 to pass more bills, realising they could use the disarray in the Opposition camp to push through even controversial bills.