PM to meet BJP councillors, talk on performance

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be interacting with BJP councillors in the national capital in October and is likely to give stern warning to follow his government policy of “zero tolerance” against corruption. The interaction will likely take place before Diwali and it was planned as the BJP leadership is unhappy with the performance of all the three party-ruled municipal corporations.

The BJP, which is ruling the municipal corporations since 2007, faced lots of criticism for alleged corruption and failure to make the city clean despite the PM’s launching the ambitious “Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan” in 2014.

“There are perceptions and allegations that corruption is rampant in the municipal corporations and councillors are minting money by corrupt means.

During the civic polls in April, by denying tickets to all the sitting councillors, the party has decided to field new faces. The decision had yielded historic mandate, but failed to change people’s perception and image,” said a BJP insider.

Unhappy with the image and performance, the party leadership has decided that BJP councillors must learn about “zero tolerance” and good governance from Mr Modi himself.

“No one can brief better than the Prime Minister on zero tolerance and performance to these new councillors. Interaction of the party councillors with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to take place before Diwali,” he added.

Sources said that Mr Modi will talk about how the party leadership ought to be in the civic bodies and end corruption by simply implementing the poll promises.

“Ahead of the polls, the party has promised that it will decrease human interface by adopting ‘digital by default,’ thus digitising all services. Moving with the Prime Minister’s ‘digital India’ initiative, corporations will not only improve services, but also end corruption,” they added.

Sources said that the venue for Mr Modi’s interaction with the BJP councillors will be decided after confirmation of date by the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Most likely, it will be held at NDMC’s Convention Centre as the venue is centrally located and meets the security parameters of the Prime Minister,” he added.