'Celebrate later, work first': Prime Minister Narendra Modis' mantra for his Cabinet colleagues

A day after the swearing-in on June 9, the hall was full as the Cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 5 pm on June 10 at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence. In addition to the discussions between cabinet colleagues and a few smiles exchanged as shown in the visuals published by the Prime Minister's office, it was first of all a set of important instructions that Modi wanted to give to his colleagues.

For many of his cabinet colleagues, especially the new ones and those from coalition partners, it would be a matter of celebration to be part of Team Modi. But celebrations can wait and work must take priority. The Prime Minister has told us not to travel to our constituency, unless otherwise instructed, absolutely urgently over the next month as the focus needs to be on governance. You have taken on a responsibility at the Center and this should be your first priority. The celebrations can always be held later, a Union minister, who did not wish to be quoted, told CNN-News18.

The next instruction the Prime Minister gave to his Cabinet colleagues was regarding the upcoming parliamentary session. The party and the government understand that the scenario from 2024 onwards will be different as a strong opposition is in place in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Congress party alone has 102 MPs, up from almost half in 2019. The parliamentary session is extremely important and all of us must prepare for it. We need to ensure that we prepare well for the questions that are asked and are not seen as incidental, as this will impact people's impression of our government, Modi told his colleagues at the meeting of the firm, a source said. .

Going further, the Prime Minister asked his junior Cabinet colleagues to be cordial with Ministers of State (MoS), keep them prepared and informed about decisions taken by the Cabinet and help them prepare for issues and other debates in Parliament. It is important that everyone adopts a very professional approach and kindly follows important debates, especially those of the stalwarts of Rajya Sabha, which is considered as the House of Elders, another source told CNN-News18.

The Prime Minister has already started the ball rolling with his union colleagues by demanding the implementation of the government plan within the next hundred days. In fact, this hundred-day plan was requested from his colleagues in the previous government itself, although some of them may not have been repeated. So, essentially, the plan was ready, even before the elections, and the new cabinet was formed.

This cabinet formed by PM Modi in 2024 has a unique blend of experience and new talent. On the one hand, while the chief ministers, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar remained unchanged from the previous term , allies like TDP nominated Rammohan Naidu, LJP Ramvilas Pawan faction nominated Chirag Paswan to the Cabinet and JDU sent Lalan Singh to the Cabinet among a few other new faces.

The extraordinary session of Parliament will be short. It will begin on June 24 and end on July 3. During this period, on June 24 and 25, all Lok Sabha MPs will have taken oath. On June 26, the election of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha will take place. This will be followed by President Droupadi Murmu's joint presidential address to both houses. This will be followed by the response to the vote of thanks for the President's speech. Prime Minister Modi will respond to this discussion in both houses of Parliament. While the Lok Sabha will begin on June 24, the Rajya Sabha will begin only on June 27.