A day after the announcements of the Lok Sabha poll schedule which will be completed by first week of June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked ‘tough’ to his Cabinet Ministers in a meeting convened on Sunday.
Conventionally, the Cabinet meeting after the announcement of general elections dates is convened to initiate the process of notifying the dates of parliamentary elections by sending the Election Commission’s recommendation to Rashtrapati Bhawan.
While the process of sharing the notification was completed to send to President Droupadi Murmu, sources said the Prime Minister first asked his Cabinet colleagues to work round the clock to ensure a victory across the country and simultaneously he wished best to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi and others like Jitendra Singh to contest the forthcoming polls ‘diligently’ and do not take their opponents ‘lightly’ in which ever Lok Sabha constituency they are part of it.
Following this Modi also told Ministers to draft a roadmap for the first 100 days and next five years for new Government. Chairing the Cabinet before departing for election rally in Andhra Pradesh in the afternoon, the PM also asked his Ministers to meet Secretaries and other officials of their respective Ministries and departments to discuss how the agenda for the first 100 days and the next five years can be better implemented.
This is the second time in a fortnight, the PM met his colleagues in the Government with the first on March technically considered to be the last Council of Ministers meeting which had brainstormed over the vision document for “Viksit Bharat: 2047” and a detailed action plan for the next five years.
Sources had then said the roadmap for “Viksit Bharat” was a result of more than two years of intensive preparation and entailed a “whole-of-Government” approach involving all Ministries and wide-ranging consultations with State Governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, scientific organisations and mobilisation of youths for inputs.
“More than 2,700 meetings, workshops and seminars were held at various levels. Suggestions of more than 20 lakh youths were received,” an official had said.
The BJP has exuded confidence that the Modi Government will be back for a third consecutive term this year with a massive mandate. The Prime Minister has predicted that his party will win 370 seats, the NDA 400.
