New Delhi, June 5: The NDA leaders met at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday (June 5). Visuals from the NDA meeting also surfaced as an attempt was made to show the unity among the NDA partners. However, one moment that stood out from the NDA meeting was PM Narendra Modi sharing a light moment with TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who were seated next to him.
Though the video shows all the members of the NDA, all eyes are on the equation shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Naidu and Nitish Kumar. Both Naidu and Kumar, with their 28 seats in this Lok Sabha, hold the key to NDA forming government in the Centre with the BJP failing to get a majority on its own and the Lok Sabha elections turning out to be a far closer contest than expected.
Watch The NDA Meeting Video Below
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to stake claim to form government for the third consecutive time on Wednesday, after the meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. It is placed precariously with just 11 seats more than the half mark to claim the majority and hence looking for coalition with TDP and other small parties. The NDA scored 60 seats more than INDIA bloc's 223.
Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President Chandrababu Naidu attended the NDA meeting where top leaders of the BJP and its other allies were also present.
Both Nitish Kumar and Naidu will press for more berths in the union ministry and they may also force Modi's hand for change of the policies unlike no such pressure in the first two governments. They are bound to pressurise Modi not to play his Hindu-Muslim card any longer, the political sources said.
Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tendered his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu along with his Council of Ministers. Modi is likely to take oath for a third consecutive term on Saturday, June 8. This is the first time since Jawaharlal Nehru that a prime minister will be returning to power for a third consecutive term.
The NDA bloc remained shy of 300-mark as it faced a strong fight by the Opposition's INDIA bloc; Congress leader Rahul Gandhi won in both Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats, while PM Modi retained his Varanasi seat, though with a lesser vote margin than that in 2019. Smriti Irani, who had defeated Rahul in Amethi, lost the seat to Congress's Kishori Lal Sharma.
As the INDIA bloc leaders prepare to meet at Congress President Malllikarjun Kharge’s residence Wednesday evening, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar said that there had been no discussion within the INDIA bloc on reaching out to the TDP or JD(U) to shore up the numbers of the alliance for government formation.
With the TDP tally of 16 Lok Sabha seats and Janata Dal(U) 12, the INDIA group totals 251 which is still short of the NDA, though the Congress leaders were busy since Tuesday in touch with the smaller parties to shore up the group's number.
Ahead of arriving at Congress leader Sonai Gandhi’s residence, Congress leader KC Venugopal said that the INDIA bloc’s tally in the Lok Sabha Elections was “excellent” and that the alliance leaders would discuss their strategy at the meeting scheduled to be held at 6 pm, Wednesday evening.
In the final tally, the BJP and allies won 283 seats as against the half-way mark of 272 to win the polls with the BJP stopping at 240 while the Congress and allies in INDIA bloc scored 223 seats, with Congress one short of 100 seats and Samajwadi Party 37 seats, DMK 22 and Trinamul Congress 29, and others 93 seats.
