BJP national leaders to coach ministers on party ideology

Facing criticism from all sections of the society after the Cabinet cleared the controversial pro-separatist Transfer of Property Bill, the BJP high command has decided to organize a four- day training camp to educate its ministers about the ideology of the party.
The camp will be held at Patnitop in Ramban district from July 22 – 25.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Ram Madhav, Ram Lal and Murlidar Rao (national general secretaries) along with some senior RSS leaders are likely to attend the training camp.
The focus would be on ill-informed ministers, who had landed the Sangh parivar in an embarrassing situation after giving their nod to the controversial Bill.
“Three national general secretaries of the party have already given their approval to attend the training camp. Rajnath is also likely to address the attendees”, said state BJP president Satpal Sharma.
On whether the passage of the pro-separatist Bill by the cabinet necessitated such a camp, Sharma sought to downplay the ‘blunder’ and said senior leaders including ministers will participate in the four- day camp.
On June 23, the cabinet had cleared four Bills, including the controversial Transfer of Property Bill. The spirit of that Bill is against the core of BJP ideology but the party’s ministers, who were present in the cabinet, gave their nod to it.
When the Bill was approved by the cabinet, there was a hue and cry in Jammu region but the government, in which BJP is an important partner, tabled the same in the Legislative Assembly.
Although the Bill, which is widely considered as inimical to the nation’s interest, was referred to the Select Committee after Independent MLA from Udhampur, Pawan Gupta created an uproar in the House, the BJP high command has taken very serious note of the casual approach being adopted by the party’s representatives in the government.
It was widely observed that after becoming a part of the government, most of the BJP ministers were deliberately abandoning the party’s core ideology to remain in the good book of its coalition partner PDP.