Only people-oriented work with full emphasis on Central welfare schemes will guarantee their political future — was the message conveyed in clear terms.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday night met the Chief Ministers and their deputies of all 13 BJP-ruled states and told them that the government's vision to build a New India by 2022 was of utmost importance, warning them that there was no place for slackers.
Only people-oriented work with full emphasis on Central welfare schemes will guarantee their political future — was the message conveyed in clear terms.
In a gruelling four-and-a-half-hour marathon meeting at the BJP headquarters here, the CMs were asked to give a truthful account of the work they have done, and an assessment of the areas of under performance.
A day before Shah was to leave for Chennai, the BJP said that his plans were revised, and that he will stay put in Delhi for now, amid talk of a Cabinet reshuffle that may take place anytime.
The meeting also made it clear that the BJP will target the Congress in a big way for its "anti-poor & anti-OBC" stand to further dent its prospects. Three Cabinet ministers — Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman — were also present at the meeting. This was PM Modi's third meeting with the CMs after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
After the meeting, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said that the Congress' "anti-poor and OBC" stand has been exposed.
He also added that it was on the direction of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi that their leader Digvijaya Singh stalled the PM's priority bill that seeks to grant constitutional status to the OBC Commission.
Sources said that the meeting was business-like, where the CMs were clearly told that their governments need to show performance, especially in implementing welfare schemes for the poor and farmers, and that their work will be assessed every quarter from now.
Given the recent agitations farmers, Modi told the CMs that they will have to work towards doubling farmers' income by 2022, and there needs to be substantial progress before 2019.
This means that the next such meeting may take place in November in which the CMs will have to again show their performance backed with data that will be evaluated by the Centre.
As the Modi government has started preparations for the 2019 general elections, in the next Cabinet reshuffle, some ministers can be drafted for party work to help in election preparations.
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