Come January and members of the Union Council of Ministers would be hitting the road to at least two constituencies other than their own, in an exercise to cobble up feedback for what Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them would be a “people’s budget.”
In the dying days of the Winter Session of Parliament, Mr. Modi had organised a meeting of the full Council of Ministers, and had said that Ministers must travel and get feedback for the Union Budget to be presented at the end of February. The exercise, he felt, would also ensure that people saw the “government at its doorstep” and not as a remote entity ensconced in Delhi.
Mr. Modi had also said that Ministers must travel to counter “Opposition propaganda” on the NDA government.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will visit Mumbai, while his junior at the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore will be visiting Meerut and Rampur (the stomping ground of Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan).
Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will visit two areas in Jharkhand including Ranchi. All BJP Ministers are sending the names of the constituencies they want to visit to a committee set up by the party, and in the case of alliance Ministers, by their respective parties. Information about this will be shared with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“The format of the interactions would be to travel to these areas, and meet farmers’ groups, women’s groups, trading guilds, and any other members of the public in focused interactions and get feedback,” said a senior Minister in the government. “Separate meetings with the local press in these areas will also be scheduled,” he added.
The stress was on less “show” and more substance. “It will not be like how the Congress MPs made a show of visiting Dalit households when they were in power. This will be low key, and completely focussed on public interactions,” said the source.
The Council of Ministers has, on an average around 60 members, and therefore the Prime Minister is hoping that between 110-120 constituencies get visits from various Ministers.
The last time BJP MPs and Ministers hit the road was to canvass for the Land Ordinance, and that didn’t end well. With a less fixed end in mind, the government is hoping that this outreach will.
