PM Modi asked the MLAs to remain active in public life. (FILE)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday wrapped up his two-day visit to Gujarat by having lunch with BJP Members of Parliament, MLAs and top leaders of the party's state unit, the experience described by a legislator as like a family get-together.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, state BJP president CR Paatil and newly elected Rajya Sabha members Babubhai Desai and Kesridevsinh Zala were among those who joined the PM for the lunch at Gandhinagar Circuit House. The PM then left for Delhi.
Nearly all the 156 MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party were present at the lunch. The PM reached the Circuit House after inaugurating the ‘SemiconIndia 2023', an exhibition-cum-conference focussing on the semiconductor industry, at Mahatma Mandir convention centre in Gandhinagar.
According to BJP MLA from Mansa constituency, JS Patel, the PM asked the elected members to “do good work” in their respective constituencies.
“Today's lunch with the PM was like a family get-together. We only talked. He enquired about our well-being and asked us to do good work in our constituencies. It was an informal event. Nothing more happened there,” Patel told reporters outside the venue.
Sources said the PM asked the MLAs to remain active in public life and maintain touch with workers on the ground.
Earlier in the day, the PM inaugurated the SemiconIndia 2023 conference where he said technology firms will be given 50 per cent financial assistance for setting up semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the country. His government has rolled out the red carpet for chip makers, he said.
On Thursday, PM Modi inaugurated a greenfield international airport near Rajkot city and other development projects. He also met Gujarat ministers at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar in the evening.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)