PM Narendra Modi Meets 13 Chief Ministers Of BJP-Ruled States, Talks Development

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all 13 Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states following the day-long meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council on Sunday. At the meeting, which was also attended by party chief Amit Shah and several top Union Ministers, Prime Minister Modi took stock of the developmental and social welfare work done by the state governments.

The Chief Ministers gave presentations of various schemes and models applied by their governments. They also discussed the use of traditional and social media to inform people about various welfare initiatives. 

According to news agency IANS, sources said that PM Modi asked BJP chief ministers and deputy chief ministers to devise Vision Documents for 2022, the 75th year of India’s independence. Sources also said that the upcoming Presidential election was also discussed by the leaders.
 Following the BJP’s string of victories in the recently concluded assembly elections, PM Narendra Modi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of good governance. At the recently concluded national executive of the party, which the 13 chief ministers had attended, the Prime Minister had said the party should repay the voters' trust with hard work.

“There is no room for complacency after victory,” he had said. “The party should pledge to build a New India, where good governance and power to the poor should be the mantra". 

All BJP chief ministers are in Delhi on Sunday to take part in the NITI Aayog meeting. It is the Prime Minister’s second meeting with them since the BJP’s sweeping victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The first such exercise was held in last August.

At the meeting of the NITI Aayog today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the role of the Chief Ministers in policy formation. Calling them a part of Team India, he called upon states to work with his government to help identify goals for 2022 and work in “Mission mode” towards achieving them.

After winning comfortable majorities in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and forming coalition governments in Manipur and Goa, the BJP will battle assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year.

While the party intends to make a comeback in Himachal Pradesh, it seeks to retain PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah’s home state of Gujarat, where the party has been in power for nearly 19 years — with PM Narendra Modi serving as Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014. 

(with inputs from PTI and IANS)