New ministers of PM Modi's team visit BJP office, signal primacy of organisation

To drive home the message that organisation is as crucial as the government, almost all of the newly-inducted ministers visited Bharatiya Janata Party national headquarters here on Thursday.

This, senior leaders said, is an attempt to re-establish the synergy between the organisation and the government and that cadre should not feel alienated.

"Also it is for the ministers to remember that they have come out from the organisation," a senior BJP leader said.

The visit of ministers to the BJP headquarters assumes significance in light of recent directions given by Prime minister Narendra Modi to his ministers to listen to members of parliament and other public representatives and have synergy between the party cadre and the government to effectively implement central schemes at the grassroots.

The ministers met the staff and workers during their visit to the party headquarters. Many clicked selfies. The ministers paid floral tribute to the party ideologues Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Later, all of them met the national general secretary organisation BL Santhosh.

Earlier, a majority of them had gone to meet party president J P Nadda.

The visits came as ministers took charge of their respective offices.

Virendra Kumar, who is Minister of Social Justice puts, articulated the views of the new ministers.

"Before beginning a new auspicious work, one needs to take the blessings of the elders," he said.

The ministers started arriving at around 10:30 am in the morning and continued to visit the party office till 3 pm. The visits were planned by the party, sources said.

While many avoided speaking to the media before assuming charge of their ministries, few of them did take questions related to their ministries.

Railways and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed his views about the issue relating to Twitter and the new intermediary rules. "Everyone must follow the law of the land," he said.

Bharti Pravin Pawar, newly-appointed MoS Health, said everyone should be cautious to avoid the third wave of COVID-19.

Law minister Kiren Rijiju, Shipping and Ports Minister Sarbanand Sonowal, Culture and Tourism minister G Kishan Reddy said they will speak only after having a meeting with the officials.

John Barla, MP from Alipurduar in West Bengal where BJP won all five seats, who has did not miss the opportunity to take a dig at the state chief minister.

"She hasn't allowed central schemes to reach to people. I would sit down with her about this. We believe in 'sabka saath, sabka vishwaas and sabka vikas,'" the new Minister of State of Minority Affairs said.

Forty-three leaders took the oath of office on Wednesday in the first expansion and reshuffle of the council of ministers carried out by the Prime Minister in his second term in office.

( With inputs from ANI )