Attend Parliament: Modi diktat to all NDA MPs

NEW DELHI: NDA MPs will have to keep all other engagements at bay when Parliament opens for the winter session on Monday till it closes before Christmas next month. The PM has hinted that he expects all MPs to attend the House from the time it opens at 11am in the morning till it gets over for the day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have told NDA MPs during an interaction over tea last month that he wants that they attend the House with full attention and the entire time so that the House runs properly in the coming session.The BJP and alliance party MPs are sure that having said that he would want them to be present in the House while it runs, they believe that the Prime Minister will keep a keen watch on whether they are in attendance.
Not many would want to be hauled up for not being present in the House.
READ ALSO: NDA can help chart new course for India, Modi tells alliance MPs
While it is the norm in Parliament for MPs to attend the House when it is in session, many MPs are often found absent on days when business is conducted and many times both Houses have to ring a bell for the quorum to be completed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In fact, in the last session, on more than one occasion, the government was embarrassed by the opposition when ministers were not present in the House while issues relating to their departments were being raised. The opposition Congress and others made the best of the opportunity to embarrass the government by making an issue out of it by pointing it out to the chair.
READ ALSO: 67 pending bills may come up in winter session of Parliament
With many first time MPs and ministers in treasury benches, the Modi government runs the risk of not being fully aware of many parliamentary norms.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with newly-inducted ministers during Modi's first Cabinet expansion.
The Modi government plans to push bills including the ordinance on coal blocks, that has now been turned into a legislation, the Insurance Bill etc, in the winter session. The numbers in Rajya Sabha are not yet stacked in favour of the BJP and its allies, making the situation tricky in the Upper House for the government. For this, it is important for the government to ensure that the voting numbers in the House from its own benches are present in full strength.