New Delhi: After 26 parties gathered in Bengaluru for the second day of the joint opposition meeting on July 18, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ready with its own show of strength with a meeting of 38 members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the national capital on the same day.
Addressing a press conference on July 17, BJP chief J.P. Nadda said that the meeting is being held as the NDA’s scope has increased in the last nine years.
“In the last nine years, the scope of the NDA has increased, and to pursue the development agenda, and to meet the aspirations of the Indian polity, political parties across the country have committed themselves to the development agenda which is why the scope of the National Democratic Alliance has also increased,” he said, as reported by ANI.
He added that the NDA partners, too, are upbeat about the work done by the Modi government.
According to a list released by Doordarshan, the parties that will attend the meeting include Shiv Sena (the Eknath Shinde faction), Nationalist Congress Party (the Ajit Pawar faction), and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (the one led by Pashupati Kumar Paras).
The other parties include All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Apna Dal, National People’s Party, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), All Jharkhand Students Union, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Mizo National Front, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, Naga People’s Front (Nagaland), Republican Party of India (Athawale), Asom Gana Parishad, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Tamil Maanila Congress, United People’s Party Liberal, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party.
The others are Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Jannayak Janta Party, Prahar Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Jan Surajya Shakti Party, Kuki People’s Alliance, United Democratic Party, Nishad Party, All India N.R. Congress, Hindustan Awami Morcha, Jana Sena Party, Haryana Lokhit Party, Bharath Dharma Jana Sena, Kerala Kamaraj Congress, Puthiya Tamilagam, Lok Jan Shakti Party and Gorkha National Liberation Front.
The NDA meeting comes even as the opposition parties unite in Bengaluru to finalise plans of putting up a united fight against the BJP in the upcoming general elections in 2024.
The second installment of the opposition party meeting has also seen the number of parties rising from 17 in Patna last month to 26 in Bengaluru.
The BJP, however, has said that the decision to call the NDA meeting has nothing to do with the opposition meeting.
“This is not the first meeting of the NDA. We have had several meetings in the past, and besides, this is also the silver jubilee year of the NDA,” Syed Zafar Islam, BJP’s national spokesperson, told The Wire.
“The 2024 elections are near and all parties have different issues and agendas, so we will be discussing that along with the evolving political issues in the country,” he added.
The opposition meeting is focused on finding a name for the alliance and setting a common minimum agenda designed around “safeguarding democracy, constitution, and secularism” and livelihood issues like inflation and unemployment.
On the other hand, the NDA meeting, which will be attended by Prime Minister Modi and top leaders, is likely to focus on the achievements of the government in the last nine years and ways to “discuss the upcoming elections.”
Without giving specific details on whether seat-sharing arrangements will be discussed, the BJP said that such talks will come at a later stage.
“That (seat-sharing talks) usually happens at a later stage. At present, evolving political issues will be discussed. Every party has its own agenda and issues, so all important issues will have to be discussed and deliberated upon ahead of the elections next year,” said Islam.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of the BJP trying to bring regional players on board in the recent weeks after losing traditional allies such as the Telugu Desam Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Janata Dal (United), and the Shiv Sena.
It has, however, been successful in making alliances with Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, now recognised as the real party, as well as the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP.
Last week, Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) in Uttar Pradesh also returned to the NDA fold.
In Bihar, Upendra Kushwala-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awami Morcha have also returned to the alliance after leaving the NDA in 2018.
Another former ally, Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, however, is missing from the list.
The BJP said that whether former alliance partners want to return to the NDA or not is up to them.
“We always maintain our coalition dharma and we have never asked anyone to leave. If anyone has left and wants to come back we always welcome them,” said Islam.
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The agenda of the meeting
Islam added that the agenda of the meeting will be to focus on the “centrifugal force which is our common ideology, i.e. the governance model which focusses on protecting the interests of the people of this country and to ensure that they are empowered.”
“These have remained the objectives of our government and we have been able to deliver them in the last nine years. Today the common man is feeling empowered while India has also become an important global player and Prime Minister Modi himself is a powerful global leader now. So, there is a lot of confidence in the common man as well as among our alliance partners. We have accomplished a lot of things in these nine years, which we had promised in 2014, and we will highlight this and discuss all important issues for 2024,” he added.
Meanwhile, the timing of the meeting has been questioned by the opposition parties.
“If he (PM Modi) is stronger than the entire opposition and he alone is enough for them, why is he calling together 30 parties?” Kharge asked while speaking to ANI.
“..They are baffled by what we are doing, so they are gathering factions of parties to show their strength,” he added.
The opposition meeting has, however, also caught the prime minister’s attention.
During the virtual inauguration of the new Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair, Modi called the ongoing opposition meeting “Kattar Bhrashtachar Sammelan” (hardcore corruption convention).
Modi said that the people of the country have already decided to vote for the BJP in 2024 and those who were responsible for the “poor plight” of India have set up their own shops.
“People of the country say that this is a ‘Kattar Bhrashtachar Sammelan’…Another specialty of this meeting is that if someone is out on bail in a corruption of crores of rupees, they are seen with great respect. If the entire family is out on bail, they are more honoured…If someone insults a community and is punished by the court, he is honoured,” he added.
However, as mentioned earlier, the BJP has denied that the meeting has anything to do with the opposition meeting.
“The Congress and other opposition parties meeting is not unity but just a formality meeting,” said Islam.
“Their heart is not set on anything. They want to show they are together but they are not. Their frustration is bringing them together. Unlike them, the NDA has been in existence for 25 years and our meeting is not happening for the first time and neither is it a reaction to some third person.”
“It is just one of the meetings for the NDA where all parties will come together and discuss their concerns ahead of the next year’s elections,” he added.