UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has arranged for a crash course for the MLAs.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today pitched for longer sittings and longer sessions of the state assembly, as he urged Uttar Pradesh's new legislators to be role models and change the perception that "MLAs do not act responsibly."
"Suppose there is a fire in your area , you have to go there for sure. And I am sure you (will) go . Yet, sometimes, there is a perception that MLAs do not act responsibly. Let's ask ourselves why," the Chief Minister said, and then answered the question. "I think there are two reasons. One is the absence from assembly sessions the other is allegations of corruption."
The 44-year-old priest-politician was speaking at a two-day "enlightenment course" that he has organised, a crash course for UP's 403 legislators on how to deport themselves in the House, seeing that many of his colleagues are first-time MLAs.
Yogi Adityanath, 44, too is a first-timer in the UP assembly, but he has been elected to Parliament five times. Lawmakers, the chief minister said, need to understand rules of the house and how to use them to raise their concerns. "I learnt this myself as member of Parliament and prepared as many as 200 questions there,' he said.
He suggested that like in Parliament sometimes, sessions in the UP assembly "should run till 8 pm." The Chief Minister, who works late into the night reviewing different state departments, has already scrapped 15 public holidays and prescribed 18 hour work days in government offices in the sis odd weeks since he took oath.
Yogi Adityanath has also roped in union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar and UP Governor Ram Naik to speak to the MLAs during the workshop. Former legislators will hold sessions on how to raise questions in the assembly and, importantly, how to maintain the decorum of the house.
The highlight will be an address on Thursday by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
A special sitting of the UP assembly will be held on May 15 to clear a bill related to the Goods and Services Tax or GST.
The BJP won a landslide mandate in UP this year and its 312 legislators - 325 along with allies - will dominate the assembly. 209 of them have been elected to the assembly for the first time.
The Samajwadi Party's 47 MLAs, the BSP's 19 and the Congress' seven make up a small opposition. Legislators from these parties too are attending the two-day course.
UP's new chief minister has notched up several firsts since he took oath in March this year, but the two-day workshop for MLAs will not count among them. His predecessor Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party had organised one too after he took over as chief minister in 2012.