BJP formulating code of conduct for party workers: Parrikar

PANAJI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is formulating a code of conduct for party workers on tackling issues ranging from handling obstinate bureaucrats and time management to personal conduct while dealing with women, a senior party functionary said.

Manohar Parrikar, convener of the BJP’s newly formed governance cell, told IANS that the code of conduct would be shortly evolved by the cell after discussions with other senior party leaders and chief ministers of party-ruled states.

“The fulcrum of the code of conduct are these three principles, namely development of social, personal and financial character,” said Parrikar, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay alumni and a former chief minister of Goa.

“Every person in a political life should be ready to be scrutinized by anyone at anytime till he is in public life…When you are in social life, there are so many people who meet you. So how do you place them. There will also be women meeting you. So all these aspects…you should have a clear cut understanding that you should not misuse your power for any purpose,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar, who was in the race for the BJP’s president’s post recently, further said that party workers and elected functionaries needed to adequately handle both time management techniques and obstinate bureaucrats.

“Time management is one of the most important factors. How do you manage your time? If time management is properly understood, then this problem can be reasonably taken care of,” he said.

The leader pointed out that new ministers often faced a problem while balancing their attention between an eager cadre and governmental responsibilities.

“If they don’t have appropriate control on the bureaucracy, they will not be able to implement the programme of the party. They need to be capable in tackling bureaucracy in order to get proposals of the government implemented,” Parrikar said, adding that some aspects of the code of conduct could be implemented within four months.

“The code will first evolve after discussions with stakeholders. The basic principle is that we are not going in with any fixed methodology. These are the areas of our operation and thinking,” Parrikar said.

He added that he would be incorporating inputs from chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and other senior party leaders before formalising the code.