PM Modi asked BJP lawmakers to explain the benefits of the union budget to the masses. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked BJP lawmakers to take welfare schemes announced in the budget to the masses, saying that making people aware of them would lead to the party winning in the elections, according to leaders present at the meeting.
Lawmakers' success is directly linked to the party's performance, the prime minister told the BJP parliamentary meeting, the leaders said.
Party president Amit Shah also spoke at the meeting and blamed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's "undemocratic" politics for his party members heckling the prime minister during his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Modi spoke at length about the Union budget, calling it especially positive for farmers and the poor while citing the announcement of a health insurance scheme for 10 crore families, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters.
PM Modi asked lawmakers to inform the masses about various pro-people features of the budget. The prime minister also asked the gathering to hold meetings at booths to take various welfare schemes announced in the budget to people and run intensive campaigns to propagate them, Mr Kumar said.
Some leaders present in the meeting later said that the prime minister underlined the importance of making people aware about these schemes for winning the elections and told them that their win was linked to the party's victory.
He asked them to hold mock parliaments in various places to discuss the budget and praised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's reply in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on it.
Prime Minister Modi also heaped praise on Amit Shah for his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha.
PM Modi even made a reference to yesterday's rally in Tripura, which goes to the polls on February 18, and said that a huge crowd had arrived despite attempts of the state's Left government to prevent people from attending it.
During his speech, Mr Shah slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying, "Never before in the parliamentary history was a prime minister's reply to the president's address disrupted by the Oppositon." Mr Shah said this referring to Congress protests in the well of the Lok Sabha during Modi's over-90-minute speech on Wednesday.
Rahul Gandhi's mindset is "undemocratic" and that is why the prime minister had to speak amid disruptions, he said. When Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, for over 10 years such a situation had never occurred, he said.
Mr Shah also touched on the Congress' attack on the government over the Rafale aircraft deal, saying Mr Jaitley in his speech had touched on its various aspects. "The broader details of the deal have been shared in Parliament. But every detail, including those about its weapons and their cost, cannot be made public," Ananth Kumar quoted Amit Shah as saying.