BJP leader LK Advani on Tuesday cautioned the party’s first-time MPs to conduct themselves properly and not to yield to temptations that their newfound position would bring over the next five years.
In the previous Lok Sabha, the BJP faced embarrassment when several of its MPs were caught in sting operations on MPLADS and ‘cash-for-query’ scams. In the present Lok Sabha, half of BJP’s MPs - 58 of them — are first timers.
At the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting, Advani asked them to maintain “purity in conduct” and use their position to serve the people. The BJP leader said facilities like houses and cars were meant for their personal use. But there have been times when MPs have sublet or rented them out for financial gains. “This kind of behaviour sullies reputation,” Advani said.
Advani told the MPs that they would meet many people in Delhi who would try to establish contact with them. This usually begins with things like sending cars at the airport to receive or drop them, he said. This sort of people, he said, thrive on the attention showered on them by the MPs. They later use their relation with the MPs for personal gains.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said Advani told the MPs that frequently, deliberately or unwittingly, they do things that put them and the party in the dock. “He said since the BJP follows certain ideologies, the MPs should also follow that in letter and spirit,” Swaraj said.
The BJP will also hold a day-long training camp for the first-timers.
