NEW DELHI:Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah has asked party MPs to submit their performance reports. The move is being seen as part of an exercise to identify MPs who can be fielded in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.During a BJP parliamentary party meeting on Friday, Shah asked the MPs to prepare performance reports on work done in their respective constituencies, sources said.
“The MPs have to prepare reports for the four years since being elected in May 2014. They have to include work done for development in their respective constituencies. The MPs also have to inform about the activities undertaken by them to expand the base of party workers,” a source said.
With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections less than a year away, sources in the party said that the BJP chief was seeking to prepare a list of MPs who could get elected again, and those who failed to live up to expectations could be denied party tickets.
“The BJP has begun preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Lok Sabha MPs had regularly been given specific tasks to carry out in their respective constituencies. The BJP chief is essentially giving the MPs an opportunity to make a strong case for their renomination for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” a source said.
The move to seek performance reports has set off alarm bells among the MPs, who fear that the party may deny tickets to a large number of them as part of a strategy to beat anti-incumbency against the Narendra Modi government. The BJP denied tickets to about 40 MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly polls last year.