By Mohit Dubey
Lucknow/New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS): Work honestly, be among the people and win hearts - this was the success mantra shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 70-odd BJP parliamentarians from Uttar Pradesh at a high tea Friday in New Delhi, sources said Saturday.
At his first major engagement with the Lok Sabha MPs from UP, a state from where he himself is an MP after winning in Varanasi, Modi asked them to let go the "victory frenzy" of the Lok Sabha elections and get on with "serious work" for the welfare of the people.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the April-May general election, while an ally netted two seats.
"The prime minister was very forthcoming, jovial and attentive," an MP who did not wished to be named owing to the embargo on discussing in-house deliberations with the media, told IANS.
The prime minister, sources said, while not deliberating too much on the 12 state assembly seats in UP for which by-polls are to be held soon, told his colleagues that they must be more visible in the constituencies as more accessibility would generate goodwill for the party.
One has to not only understand and sympathize with the problems of the people but also empathize with them so as to win "more hearts", Modi is understood to have told an MP from Poorvanchal.
Kalraj Mishra, a cabinet minister, told IANS that the meeting was part of Prime Minister Modi's initiative to interact with party MPs from all across the country.
"The MPs met him in two groups yesterday (Friday) and the interactions were very enlightening," said Mishra.
The discussion - after initial awe - took-off as parliamentarians dug into dhoklas, a popular Gujrati dish, and ghewar, UP's signature sweet dish on the occassion of Raksha Bandhan.
Modi made his concerns for UP "amply clear" and urged the MPs to ensure that problems related to the masses were not only heard out patiently but also taken up at relevant platforms.
A senior minister in the Modi government, who is also a parliamentarian from UP, told IANS that many MPs told the prime minister that their efforts to take up peoples causes run into hostile state governments.
He also said that Modi asked them to "single mindedly" be focussed on the people who have reposed their faith in them.
Admitting both political differences and in approaches of doing things between political parties in a democratic set up, Modi told the lawmakers that they should be steadfastly by the side of the poor, deprived and the downtrodden.
"Irrespective of road blocks, sustained honest work will always show," Modi told a young MP who seemed restless and frustrated with some work on roads in his parliamentary constituency not being sanctioned by district officials of the Akhilesh Yadav government, a source said.
The prime minister was also apprised of the agenda for forthcoming state executive meet scheduled in Vrindavan Aug 23-24.
Many Uttar Pradesh MPs described the discussion as 'guru mantra' (Teachers wisdom).
Modi also tried to gauge the mood of the people through them on the tenure of his government so far. MPs were also asked to go to people and explain the "good and path breaking work" done by the union government.
The prime minister has also asked the MPs to ensure that they do proper research over key issues of public importance and attend the parliamnt proceedings.