Patna, July 30: Senior BJP leaders donned the role of teachers on Sunday and briefed the newly appointed party leaders as ministers in the new NDA government. Ten out of the 13 BJP leaders, who are part of the cabinet, have become ministers for the first time.

The interactive session was held at 1 Polo Road, the official residence of deputy chief minister Sushil Modi.

"The new ministers need to be told about the dos and don'ts and about their conduct while donning their new roles. Hence, we decided to convene this meeting," a BJP leader said.

The decision was taken in the core committee meeting held at the party office on Sunday attended by Sushil, party president Nityanand Rai, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav and party state unit organisational general secretary Nagendra Nath. Union minister Radha Mohan Singh too joined the meeting later.

"The most important thing about which we briefed them pertained to the rules of the executive business which they should adhere to while running their respective departments," a senior BJP leader said.

He said the new ministers were also told not to allow their supporters to be present in official meetings as government functioning needs certain decorum. The leader added that they were asked to avoid taking phone calls during official meetings unless it was very urgent and develop a system using which they could speak to people who made calls during the meeting. He said the new ministers were told to meet party workers and supporters at their residences and not in the office as it affects functioning.

The new ministers were also briefed that they need to work at a fast pace because the focus of the new government was to ensure effective and timely utilisation of funds for development in the state in the shortest period possible.

On the experience of the meeting, a first-time minister said: "Sushil ji asked me to hold a meeting with my department secretary on Monday, the day I will join office and collect all possible details about the various works being done by my department and their status as well. Also, he gave me copy of the budget in which details about the various schemes of my department are there. He asked me to read the document thoroughly before joining office and meeting my officials so that I could have some idea of the department in advance."