New Delhi: Lawmakers of the ruling BJP will have a session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that sources say will include a chat on discipline in the middle of a huge controversy over Akash Vijayvargiya, a party legislator who assaulted an official with a cricket bat last week and has been completely unrepentant about his behaviour.
PM Modi’s meeting with 45 lawmakers on Wednesday morning at his official residence in Delhi marked the start of these “discipline sessions”.
BJP veteran Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son Akash Vijayvargiya may become the first lesson in consequences. Sources say the BJP plans tough action against the first-time Madhya Pradesh legislator.
On Tuesday, a furious Prime Minister made it clear at the BJP parliamentary party meeting that Akash Vijayvargiya’s conduct was unacceptable and action had to be taken. “If we have to lose an MLA, so be it. We have to set an example to prevent a repeat,” PM Modi reportedly told lawmakers.
“Whoever it may be, whoever’s son he may be, such arrogance, misbehavior cannot be tolerated and action should be taken against them,” the Prime Minister said, referring to what he called the “Indore incident”.
The PM reportedly quoted Akash Vijayvargiya’s comment on “Nivedan, Aavedan, Danadan (first request and then action)”, and questioned: “What sort of language is this?”
Akash Vijayvargiya, a BJP legislator from Indore, was arrested after he was caught on camera chasing and attacking an official who was removing encroachments last Wednesday.
Defiant, he told reporters later: “Dekhiye aavedan, nivedan, aur phir danadan… yeh hamara line of action hai (first request and then attack, this is our line of action)”.
Akash Vijayvargiya was given a hero’s welcome with garlands by his father Kailash Vijayvargiya and others when he was released on bail on Sunday.
“The PM was very upset,” BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy told NDTV after Tuesday’s meeting.
While the 34-year-old legislator stares at expulsion, PM Modi has decided to discuss discipline with parliamentarians in a series of meetings, sources say.
The meetings will take place for seven groups of MPs, the sources say, and ministers will also sit in.
Besides decorum, the lawmakers will also be briefed about the government’s plan, priorities, the importance of attendance and looking after one’s constituency.
PM Modi held similar meetings with lawmakers even after he first came to power in 2014.
