Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a marathon meeting of his council of ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium. It was their first in-person meeting since the expansion of the ministry in July last. The meeting was designed to be an extensive brainstorming session. The BJP had recently held seven such brainstorming sessions on specific themes.
The meeting came in the backdrop of the NDA government seeking to expedite the implementation of the BJP’s vision documents for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections amid important Assembly polls early next year. The meeting went on for about five hours, sources said. It also took place on a day when the BJP named Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in 2013. Then BJP chief Rajnath Singh had announced Modi as the PM candidate of the party on September 14 that year.
Government officials were stoic in their silence over what transpired during the meeting. However, it is understood that the ministers were given an account of the status of the Covid-19 vaccination in the country in the backdrop of the threat of a third wave of the pandemic and the approaching festive season.
One source said issues concerning the agriculture ministry were also taken up during the marathon meeting, but there were no official confirmation. The NDA government at the Centre continues to grapple with the farmers’ protests over three farm sector reform laws passed by Parliament. Their agitation has gone on for over nine months, with the BJP bracing for its electoral fallout in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which are due to go to the polls next year.
Incidentally, the prime minister had held two such online meetings with his council of ministers after the reshuffle during which he had tasked the newcomers to study in-depth the BJP’s vision documents for the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and draw up an actionable agenda for the short and medium terms.
Chintan shivirPresentations were made at the Chintan Shivir by Mandaviya and Pradhan on efficiency and time management. Four more such Chintan Shivirs will be held, sources said
