Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a marathon meeting of the Council of Ministers at the newly-built Pragati Maidan Convention Centre in New Delhi, said that many political parties in the country are focusing on the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections but his government is working with a roadmap laid down for year 2047 to see India becoming a developed economy in the next 25 years.
His statement on Monday could be seen as a sarcastic jibe against the opposition parties running the campaign of opposition unity.
According to sources, in the meeting, Prime Minister Modi referred to working towards the 'Vision 2047' and said that his government is working for the next 25 years and cautioned his team of Council of Ministers to not become 'short-sighted'.
Modi himself shared pictures of the meeting of the Council of Ministers and tweeted, "A productive meeting with the Council of Ministers, where we exchanged our views on various policy-related issues."
In one of the four photographs of the meeting shared by the Prime Minister, Modi is seen addressing his Council of Ministers and in two other pictures he is seen sitting with the Ministers watching a presentation.
Talking to the media after the conclusion of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi, said that in the meeting, the Prime Minister emphasised on the development of the country's basic infrastructure, discussed the developmental works, gave the mantra on style of working, discussed about the government's performance till now as well as spoke about the government's vision and roadmap for the country going ahead into year 2047. Along with this, the meeting also discussed about taking the country forward.
Lekhi further told that the Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra made a presentation in the meeting on the foreign policy of the Modi government and explained how this time Prime Minister Modi's foreign trips (The US and Egypt) were different from previous prime Ministers and how has the country benefitted from it.
She said that it was also told through this presentation that India has reaped the benefits from the Prime Minister's foreign visit this time, even on those things which were not being mentioned till three-four months ago.
According to sources, a presentation was also given by the Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and the Union Finance Ministry in the meeting.
A presentation regarding the infrastructure and capital expenditure was also given in the meeting.
Sources further said that Prime Minister Modi has instructed the ministers to focus on the roadmap laid down for 2047 and complete all the ongoing projects on time.
The Prime Minister, according to sources, also asserted that the country is working during peace so that "we can be are prepared for wars".
Emphasising that the benefits of all the welfare schemes being implemented by the Central government reach the "last man in line", Modi called upon all the ministers to play an active role in its facilitation.
He also spoke about the rapid adoption of new technologies, asked to focus on increasing the pace of India's economic development and also advised the Council of Ministers to live up to the expectations of the people of the country.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jaishankar, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Giriraj Singh, Anurag Thakur, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Kiren Rijiju and G. Kishan Reddy, including Union cabinet ministers, Ministers of State (Independent charge) and Ministers of State, attended this meeting.
Senior officials of the Prime Minister's Office, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Union Home Ministry, including senior officials of several other ministries, were also present in the meeting.
This meeting of the Council of Ministers, which lasted for about five hours, is being considered very important amid speculations about major changes and reshuffle in the cabinet.
In view of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP high command has prepared a blueprint of reshuffle within the party organisation and the Modi government. It is most likely that several ministers of this government can be sent to the party organisation while some ministers could also be shunted on the basis of their performance.
In such a situation, this meeting of the Council of Ministers is also being seen as a "farewell meeting" for few of them.
If this happens, it will probably be the last biggest reshuffle and expansion of the Modi government in the current Lok Sabha.
Sources claimed that the BJP’s top brass is brainstorming for a long time to identify who should be removed and who should be inducted in the cabinet.
It is being said that Prime Minister Modi may reshuffle the cabinet even before the monsoon session of Parliament which is going to start from July 20 and would continue till August 11.
There has to be a major reshuffle in the party organization as well. New state presidents are to be appointed in many states as well, who will form new teams in their respective states.
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