Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 4: Even while not ruling out the possibilities of approaching the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United), the two “kingmakers” emerging in the NDA, unlike the BJP the INDIA bloc is not rushing to make attempts to form a government and will wait for the opinion of all the alliance partners before making any such move.
The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday refused to answer questions on the issue at a press conference in Delhi pointing out that the Congress alone would not take any decision before discussing all issues with the alliance partners.
Mr Gandhi said the INDIA bloc partners would be meeting in Delhi on Wednesday when “all such issues will be raised and answered.” Mr Gandhi was asked if the INDIA would make a call on reaching out to the TDP and JD(U), both of which have been former allies of the Congress, for support to form a government at the Centre. He answered that a decision would be taken by the opposition alliance at a meeting tomorrow.
The statement becomes relevant because a margin of only 60 seats separates the NDA and INDIA, which are at 292 and 232 respectively. The BJP has failed to attain a majority on its own and is leading in 240 constituencies – including the 62 it has won – as of 6.10 pm while Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP is at 16 and the JDU is at 12.
When a reporter pointed out at a press conference that while the NDA has attained a majority, some of its partners had been Congress allies and asked whether the party had decided to sit in the opposition or make attempts to from the government, Mr Gandhi said, “We are going to have a meeting with our INDIA alliance partners, I believe the meeting is tomorrow, and these questions will be raised and answered there. We respect our partners and we are not going to make a statement in the press without seeking their opinion.”
Pressed on the issue, Mr Gandhi who has won the Wayanad seat in Kerala the second time and established unbeatable lead in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, said, “There is a fine line… We will act according to the decision taken by the INDIA alliance.”
When Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was asked the same question, he dropped a hint about new partners. Speaking in Hindi, Mr Kharge said, “Until we talk to our alliance partners… and the new partners that could join us about how we could work together and get a majority, we will see. If I reveal all our strategies now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become wary (‘hoshiyar ho jayenge‘).”
Sources in the NDA group, however, claimed that the TDP and the JD(U) would be attending a meeting of the NDA on Wednesday on the formation of the ministry. The JD(U) spokesman KC Tyagi had also told reporters in Patna that there was no question of Mr Nitish Kumar deserting the NDA and would remain with the BJP both in the state and the Centre.
“The Lok Sabha election results is a victory of people and democracy” Mr Kharge said and added, “The people did not give a clear majority to one single party. The BJP sought votes for a single person. The mandate is against Modiji.”
The Trinamool Congress supremo and the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has successfully halted the BJP progress in her state and instead brought its tally down to 10 from 18 of the 42 seats it had won in 2019, however, said she would ensure that the NDA could not form the government. She, however, did not elaborate.
There have been reports of people from the INDIA camp, especially Sharad Pawar, having reached out to Mr Naidu and Mr Kumar this afternoon, but the NCP leader has refuted them. The TDP-BJP alliance was firmed up just before the elections and, even before counting began, experts had speculated that Mr Naidu could switch sides if he saw more benefits with the INDIA bloc. The TDP was part of the United Progressive Alliance in 2019.
Nitish Kumar’s association with the Congress is even more recent and he had played a pivotal role in the creation of the INDIA bloc, before joining the NDA once again in January. The Bihar chief minister had also snapped ties with the BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections because the party had declared Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Mr Rahul Gandhi also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, accusing them of intimidating the institutions of India. “We fought this election not just against BJP but also the institutions, the governance structure of the country, the intelligence agencies CBI &EDI, judiciary because all these institutions were captured by Amit Shah & Narendra Modi ji…” Gandhi said at the briefing held after the Lok Sabha election results.
Continuing his attack, Gandhi said, “The main thing that this election has said, the country has clearly and unanimously stated – we do not want Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to be involved in running of this country. We do not like the way they have run this country. We do not appreciate the way they have attacked the Constitution. That is a huge message to Narendra Modi.”
