PM Modi warns Union ministers against absence in house

New Delhi: Taking serious note of Union ministers skipping their roster duties in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi to give him the names of all the absentee ministers the same evening.

At the BJP parliamentary party meeting here, sources said the PM asked all ministers to follow the duty roster and said they should carry out their work as assigned.

On a few occasions, Opposition members in both Houses raised the issue of the absence of ministers and there were instances when Cabinet ministers or their deputies due to be present in either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha, as per the roster, were absent.

Sources said the Prime Minister said the ongoing session could be extended, if  required, to pass the government’s legislative agenda, but as of now, the session’s extension was not on the government’s agenda. The session is now due to end on July 26.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Mr Joshi said the Prime Minister had asked all BJP MPs to nurse their constituencies by playing a leading role in its development and advised them to take up a cause of human sensitivity like eradication of leprosy or tuberculosis and water conservation.

The PM noted that India had fixed a deadline of 2025 for eradicating TB, against the global deadline of 2030. He also suggested that party leaders help to eradicate diseases like leprosy and TB, while referring to the work done by Mahatma Gandhi in this area.

The Prime Minister also told the parliamentarians that they should take up a social cause or an issue of human sensitivity as a “mission”, apart from carrying out their duties as MPs, so they are remembered for their work.

During the meeting, BJP working president J.P. Nadda briefed MPs about the party’s ongoing membership drive, with the Prime Minister asking MPs to join the campaign which, he added, has received a good response from people.