Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 5: Ending all speculations about the future scenario of the ministry formation, the Telegu Desam Party and the Janata dal (United), the two key allies in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), have given in writing their support to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to head the government for the third consecutive time.
The 15-party NDA on Wednesday named Mr Modi as the leader of the alliance starting the process for the formation of a new government under his leadership. Mr Modi is likely to be sworn-in to head the new government on Saturday.
“We are all proud that the NDA fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and won. We, the leaders of the NDA, unanimously elect Narendra Modi as our leader,” said a three-paragraph resolution in Hindi passed by the top NDA leaders.
The resolution said the people have seen the country being developed in every sector in the last 10 years due to the pro-people policies of the NDA government under PM Modi and underlined the government’s commitment to serving the poor, women, youths, farmers and deprived sections of society.
Among the 21 leaders who attended the meeting convened by PM Modi were Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, and Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, the three leaders key to the numbers. The TDP won 16 Lok Sabha seats (its partner the Jana Sena won two, so it should be counted as 18); the JD(U), 12; and the Shiv Sena, 7. The 37 seats, added to the BJP’s 240, take the party safely beyond the majority mark of 272.
The other significant NDA allies, in terms of numbers, are Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (RV), with 5 MPs, and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular), with 2 each.
The NDA meeting comes hours after PM Modi formally handed over his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu and conveyed the Union Cabinet’s decision to dissolve the 17th Lok Sabha. President Murmu accepted PM Modi’s resignation and requested him to continue in office till the new government is formed.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 240 seats but was 32 seats short of the majority mark. Along with MPs from 14 other parties, the BJP touched 293 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
With the NDA at 293, PM Modi is on course to become only the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to secure a third consecutive term but the BJP’s failure to win an outright majority on its own will puts the strongman leader at the mercy of his mercurial allies, Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu.
Earlier in the day, the NDA leaders met at Mr Modi’s residence to review the election result and discuss government formation, after which a delegation of senior figures from the BJP and its NDA partners was supposed to meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan to stake claim to power.
There has been speculation Mr Naidu and Nitish Kumar could be approached by the opposition INDIA bloc, which finished with 232 seats (40 shy of majority) and is exploring a government formation bid. To offset that, the BJP has secured written letters of support from the TDP and JDU bosses. Mr Modi and the BJP are well-aware of their importance to the NDA; he made special mention of the TDP and JDU bosses during his victory speech Tuesday night at the party HQ in Delhi. The two parties are believed to have granted support to Mr Modi with a variety of demands including the Lok Sabha speaker’s post and cabinet berths for their respective MPs.
As early as Tuesday evening, when it became clear the BJP would not be able to form the government on its own, sources had said Mr Naidu and Nitish Kumar – veteran leaders well-versed in the art of coalition politics – could be courted by the Congress in a bid to stake claim itself.
