JDU MP Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh said he had confidence in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He claimed that all the leaders who attended the conference had renewed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that he should be made prime minister thrice. Singh underlined that the constituent parties are united in their support for Modi to be sworn in for a third term as prime minister following the alliance’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Leaders of all constituent parties were present at the NDA meeting and they all said that we are with the prime minister and for the third time he should take oath as soon as possible,” Singh said. Reiterating his support for Modi, Singh added: “We are firmly with the Prime Minister. We are firmly with the NDA.”
A meeting of the NDA parliamentary party will be convened shortly, Singh said while outlining the next procedural steps. “At that meeting the leader of the NDA parliamentary party will be elected. Only then can the formation of a government be demanded,” he explained.
Wednesday’s NDA meeting was the first of its kind since the alliance’s majority victory. The unity of the coalition was reinforced by the presence of Narendra Modi in the assembly along with senior members of the NDA and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Prime Minister Modi became prime minister for the third consecutive time because the NDA leaders trusted him enough to make him the leader of the alliance.
After the meeting, Modi said the NDA will promote national progress and fulfill regional aspirations. “We will serve India’s 140 crore people and work towards building a Viksit Bharat,” the Prime Minister said in a post on X, after a crucial meeting at his residence in Delhi,” he said in a post on to participate in During the meeting of the National Democratic Alliance in the national capital on Wednesday to discuss the formation of the new government, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu asserted that the TDP is with the NDA.
Speaking about the meeting, Naidu expressed his satisfaction with the BJP top leadership. When asked if he was a member of the NDA, Naidu replied: “How can we run for office if we are not in the NDA? We fought this as a team.” Notably, NDA leaders unanimously passed a resolution in the meeting, electing Narendra Modi as their leader.
BJP president JP Nadda, BJP leaders Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, along with party allies such as Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu , Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde, Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy, Janasena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan and Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel were present at the meeting.
Since the support of their respective parties is essential for the BJP to form the government, Naidu and Nitish Kumar’s attendance at the NDA summit is a noteworthy development. This time, the BJP was 32 seats short of the 272 majority needed to form a government, meaning it would have to rely on its partners. The Election Commission of India said on Tuesday that the BJP had won 240 seats, while the Congress had won 99 seats. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP won 282 seats and in the 2019 general elections, 303 seats.
Meanwhile, Speaker Droupadi Murmu dissolved the 17th Lok Sabha on Wednesday following the recommendation of the Union Cabinet. “The President accepted the advice of the Cabinet on June 5, 2024 and signed the Order dissolving the 17th Lok Sabha in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by sub-clause (2) of Article 85 of the Constitution,” it said a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan.
(With contributions from ANI)