Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav Take Same Flight To Delhi Amid Buzz Of Opposition Outreach For Govt Formation

New Delhi: The 2024 Lok Sabha elections have brought a significant shift in the political landscape, with the BJP falling short of a two-third majority. Now, as the dust settles, both the NDA and the INDIA bloc are engaged in intense deliberations to secure the numbers required to form the government. The BJP-led NDA emerged victorious with 294 seats, surpassing the majority mark of 272 by a comfortable margin. On the other hand, the INDIA Opposition bloc managed to secure 234 seats, falling short of the majority threshold by 38 seats.

The fate of the government formation now rests on the decisions of key NDA allies, Chandrababu Naidu of TDP and JD-U’s Nitish Kumar. While both leaders had contested the elections in alliance with the BJP, there are indications of shifts in political alignments as INDIA leaders reach out to veteran coalition partners to include them in the Opposition bloc. The upcoming meetings between the NDA and INDIA alliances in Delhi are crucial in determining the future course of action.

Notably, now Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav, former allies turned opponents, find themselves on the same flight to Delhi to attend separate meetings in the national capital, according to a report in NDTV. Nitish Kumar’s close aide and JDU leader KC Tyagi told news agency ANI that the party will stay in NDA and rejected any speculation of a switch to INDIA bloc. Naidu, too congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on NDA’s stunning show in Andhra Pradesh and said TDP and BJP will rebuild the state together.

Key leaders from various political parties across INDIA are heading towards the national capital for the crucial meeting. Among them are Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, and DMK president MK Stalin. The Left leaders will also be in attendance. On the NDA front, Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Hindustam Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, LJP leader Chirag Paswan, and JDS’s HD Kumaraswamy are among those flying in for the meeting.

 PM Modi claims right to form new government

Meanwhile, PM Modi has staked the claim to form the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people for the mandate and said BJP-led NDA will form its third successive government and that it is the victory of the resolve of Viksit Bharat, of ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ and of the strong faith of people in India’s Constitution.

“On this sacred day, it is confirmed that NDA is forming the government for the third time. We are grateful to the people, they reposed full faith on the BJP, NDA. This is the victory of the world’s largest democracy, it is a victory of strong faith on India’s Constitution, it is the victory of the resolve of Viksit Bharat. It is the victory of ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’,” he said in his address at the BJP headquarters on Tuesday.

After the results, the Congress party, and other opposition leaders also said, that the INDIA bloc meeting will be held on Wednesday to decide future strategies.