With Shah in Parliament, hope MPs go to House: PM

New Delhi: With BJP president Amit Shah now a Member of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hoped that party MPs will attend proceedings of both Houses of Parliament in full attendance.

The Prime Minister, however, made his displeasure known over MPs skipping Parliament proceedings.

At the last parliamentary party meeting of the BJP in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Prime Minister raised the issue of MPs skipping proceedings and said, though in a lighter vein, that Mr Shah’s presence in Parliament might ensure the attendance of the other members. The BJP president got elected to the Upper House from Gujarat on Tuesday, his maiden entry in Parliament. Mr Modi, it was learnt, also made his displeasure known that despite being asked  many times to attend proceedings regularly, many MPs skip House proceedings, even on days when the party had issued a whip.

Earlier, Mr Shah was felicitated in the meeting for winning the election and also for completing three years as the BJP president. Congratulating Mr Shah, the Prime Minister praised him for his “successful” three years at the helm of the party, during which he worked like a “common worker” to strengthen its base. Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth kumar said the Prime Minister praised Mr Shah’s strategy and tireless efforts, “like a common worker”, to expand the footprints of the party in the country.

Mr Modi said it was difficult to run the affairs of a ruling party as the government often faced a lot of questions from the Opposition.

The Prime Minister said that expanding the organisation in this backdrop was a challenge and Mr Shah lived up to it “very skillfully.”

Mr Shah, sources said, referred to the recent election in Gujarat for the three Rajya Sabha seats and said that the opposition party was in such a “poor shape” that it managed to win the seat by a margin of less than one vote due to desertion by its members. Sources disclosed he also indicated that the outcome of the election might be challenged in court.

The BJP has questioned the Election Commission’s decision to annul two votes cast by rebel Congress members in favour of the saffron party’s candidate.

Mr Modi also asked the lawmakers and BJP office-bearers to actively undertake the “Sankalp se Siddhi” (from pledge to execution) programme, which envisioned a “new India” by 2022, the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence.