Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said it is unfortunate that MPs have to be reminded to attend Parliamentary proceedings and reminded them to be focused. The PM made the remarks while speaking at BJP parliamentary party meeting.

“Tt is unfortunate that elected members have to be reminded every now and then that they need to be regular and participate in parliamentary proceedings,” he said, according to sources.

PM told MPs, “each one of them have been sent to the Parliament by the people of this country and need to act responsibly and fulfil the duties towards the electorate.”

The Prime Minister also said MPs assigned duties in poll-bound states can be exempted, “but others have a duty to attend Parliament.”

On February 26, the Election Commission had announced the schedule for assembly elections to be held in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. While the assembly polls in West Bengal will be held over eight rounds from March 27-April 29, polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will be held in one phase on April 6 and in Assam over three phases.

BJP MPs, PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other political heavyweights will be travelling across the states for campaigns ahead of assembly polls.

The Prime Minister’s remarks came after parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi and Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal raised concern over ministers’ absence in the houses as important bills will be tabled in the parliament soon.

This is not the first time PM Modi raised the issue of MPs not attending Parliament proceedings and has warned of cracking the whip against defaulting elected representatives in a bid to remind them of their duties, according to people aware of the details.