NEW DELHI: Indian Presi­dent Draupadi Murmu invited Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi for the swearing in of the government on Sunday, after his election as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), this time including his own BJP lawmakers, on Friday.

Addressing the NDA in his acceptance speech, Modi displayed all the bitterness he showed towards the opposition during his furious electioneering, particularly targeting the Congress party by name. The speech exuded a distinct sense that Modi had not abandoned the combative mode, ignoring the convention that such occasions are used to highlight the achievements of democracy. This could be because he would remain insecure until winning the mandatory trust vote in the new Lok Sabha.

In a TV discussion with political analyst Parakala Prabhakar, the anchor noted that the name of Modi’s BJP rival and cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari was being mentioned among a section of BJP MPs as a better alternative to him. Gadkari was seen not rising from his seat when others stood up to greet Modi in the central hall of the parliament. It is possible that a section of the opposition parties would also agree to back him should Gadkari throw his hat in the ring.

The BJP has fallen short of a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, winning 240 seats, and having to rely on its allies to form the government. But Modi persisted, claiming, “people of the country know that we had never lost before and neither have we lost now”. At the meeting, he was unanimously elected as the leader of NDA, leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha, and the leader of the BJP parliamentary party board.

Shift to NDA govt

The new government depends crucially on the support of the Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the Telugu Desam Party led by Chandrababu Naidu who hold the key, as was evidenced in their seating position right next to Modi at the front table during the NDA parliamentary party meeting. While the BJP tailored its campaign around Modi alone, including naming its election manifesto as Modi ki Guarantee, ever since the party failed to win a majority on its own, the references to his government have swiftly moved to “NDA government” from the “Modi government”.

Modi continued with his attack on the opposition. “You have seen our behaviour after the 4th. We know how to handle our victory. Our sanskar is such that we don’t take victory too seriously and neither do we mock those who have been defeated. You can ask any child whose government was in power before the Lok Sabha elections? They will say the NDA. Then ask who formed the government after 2024, and they will say the NDA. So how did we lose? It was an NDA government in the past, still is and will be.”

The biggest blow to the BJP’s final tally came from UP, where it won only 33 seats. Overall, the NDA — BJP and Rashtriya Lok Dal — won only 36 seats in comparison to the INDIA bloc’s 43 seats. The Samajwadi Party won 37 seats, while the BJP won 33, the Congress six, RLD two and Apna Dal (Soneylal) one, and Azad Samaj Party one.

While the main table gave pride of place to all the BJP allies which are now crucial to the government formation, interestingly, RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary was conspicuous by his absence and was made to sit with other new MPs, even though Anupriya Patel whose Apna Dal (Soneylal) won only one seat in comparison to the RLD’s two got a seat at the main table, The Wire noted. Chaudhary who was part of the INDIA bloc had joined the NDA before the polls.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2024