NEW DELHI: After the resonance of 'chai pe charcha' in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Friday floated the idea of 'lunch pe charcha' (tiffin sabha) and asked party MPs to hold mock parliaments to explain the schemes in the Union budget to the people.
At the
BJP parliamentary party meeting, Modi asked MPs to hold interactive sessions with common people and let them know the budget's provisions, mainly in rural areas where people need to be told about schemes meant for them.
Terming the budget a positive one, Modi said it focused on farmers and middle class, and party MPs should target them to counter the "negativity" being spread by the opposition. Party chief
Amit Shah described
Congress president
Rahul Gandhi's behaviour as "undemocratic" and suggested ways to counter his criticism of the Rafale deal.
"PM Narendra Modi has urged BJP MPs to engage with the people at the mandal level about the schemes announced in the budget via mock parliaments. This will be an excellent engagement of our government with the common man," parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said.
Modi described how he held discussions with party cadres over lunch in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi by bringing his own tiffin. The PM suggested that the budget session break should be utilised by MPs to hold such 'lunch pe charcha' by bringing their own tiffin in every assembly segment of their constituency.
Modi had brought his own tiffin to lunch with BJP booth workers in Varanasi last year and later addressed a rally and shared his experiences.
Two booklets containing the PM's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos and Shah's speech at various platforms were distributed among MPs during the meeting.
