BJP ministers to update party on work progress

Rising pressure from Opposition over performance of the NDA government led BJP to kickstart an exercise of regular interaction between the party and Union ministers so that the "good work" done by the Centre is effectively communicated to the people.

The idea is to update party spokespersons with the decisions taken by ministries so that they are able to put out the right perspective. It was often found that many in the party were unaware of what stand to take on an issue or the 'good work' that needed to be communicated to the people.

This "good governance" department in BJP constitutes of Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Sidhharth Nath Singh, who have been coordinating the party's interaction with different ministries. Party leaders and spokespersons have already met defence minister Manohar Parrikar and railway minister Suresh Prabhu besides Bibek Debroy, Niti Ayog member, as part of the exercise during which presentations were made about the achievements of the two ministries and their focus areas.

The next round of meetings will be with finance minister Arun Jaitley, road tranport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and power minister Piyush Goyal, before the Budget session of Parliament begins. "The purpose of the exercise is that a lot of good work is being done by the government and party spokespersons need to highlight the achievements of the Modi government," BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said.

With the Modi government set to present its second full budget later this month, Congress has been aggressively attacking the centre over its performance. BJP members said there was a need to arm party leaders and spokespersons with correct information so they could effectively counter the opposition charges.