Family ties are important even for ideological parivars, and it is not hard to keep in touch these days. That was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to BJP MPs.
At a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party last week, Mr. Modi had remarked that he greeted party MPs on his personal NaMo App almost every day, but was not getting a response.
Sure enough, party MPs got the message and they scurried to make amends. Even those not sufficiently tech savvy rushed to download the app on to their phones.
The BJP’s IT Cell was called in. Four of its associates were deputed to help the MPs get the app. “So far, 250 MPs have updated, and we hope to finish by this evening. The problem is that most MPs have at least two mobile phones and the One Time Password goes to their second phone, usually held by someone handling the constituency office,” said an IT cell member.
At the BJP Parliamentary Party (PP) office, it was a parade of MPs, clutching mobile phones, waiting for the update. They also had an assignment to complete: finish a “task” put out on the Lok Sabha MPs group within the app on December 21, before the next PP meeting on Wednesday.
“It is a survey with six questions, on which central government scheme has had the maximum and minimum impact in the particular MP’s constituency, and whether the MP has a feedback mechanism in the constituency,” said one MP. Another MP wondered how many words could be used to critique a particular scheme.
“There are four groups in the app — Lok Sabha MPs, Rajya Sabha MPs, Council of Ministers and BJP office- bearers. Mr. Modi puts something out every day. We hope it will not only encourage communication, but also improve work. Rather than send a circular and expect something to be done, a task is assigned and monitored online,” said an insider. All this is aimed at forming a “hyper-local” strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
