17.12.14

Development sole agenda : NaMo


PM Narendra Modi put motormouths in BJP on notice, saying they should focus on development and governance, asserting that nobody was allowed to deviate from the core agenda. “We were elected on the plank of development and governance and we should stay focused on it. No deviation or dilution is acceptable. Even I cannot move away from this if I wish to,“ he said. MPs in the backdrop of a string of remarks by some MPs, which have threatened to obscure BJP's twin themes of development and governance besides giving a handle to opponents to embarrass and harass his government.
The PM made it clear that he meant business as he asked PMO officials accompanying him in Parliament House to leave. He also asked MPs scattered across the hall to bunch closer as he took exception to leaders speaking out of turn. Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned BJP MPs on Tuesday that none of them should deviate from the core agenda of development and governance. “Even I cannot move away from this even if I wish to,“ he said.
He said that one of the party leaders announced that he would be visiting Varanasi on December 25 without checking with him. “Please stop being my spokespersons because I don't need one. I am just a worker and speak for myself. Else, there is process which is laid down for the purpose and which everybody ought to follow.“
Holding forth on the theme of development and governance, the PM said both were complementary . “Development essentially means creation of infrastructure like buildings, hospitals. But this by itself is of little use unless it is backed by good governance, which means provision of quality services like good doctors and efficient support staff in a hospital,“ Modi said.
Modi also emphasized that people were increasingly taking development as an entitlement and therefore the government must go beyond the creation of infrastructure to ensure quality of services in order to measure up to expectations of the electorate. Party managers felt that the renewal of focus on governance was necessary to rein in the Hindutva hardliners who are seeing the return of BJP to power at the Centre as an opportunity to assert themselves. They regret that the volubility of such elements gave the opponents an excuse to disrupt Parliament and thwart the government's bid to pass crucial legislation like hike in FDI cap for the insurance sector.
Modi announced that the government plans to hold a number of programmes on December 25 to mark the birthday of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee as “Good Governance Day“. He said, “Atalji's birthday is a day of pride for us.“ The occasion also saw the PM driving home his “commitment“ to Swachh Bharat. “The programme is not a statement but a commitment. It is the people who have taken the lead and if we fail to do it, we will be rendered irrelevant.“

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