‘Wait And Watch’: Tejashwi, Raut Fuel Speculations On INDIA Bloc Wooing Former Allies Naidu, Nitish

Lok Sabha Election Result 2024: INDIA bloc leaders– Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) scion Tejashwi Yadav, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, in separate remarks Wednesday hinted at the opposition alliance making a bid to woo its former allies, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo Chandrababu Naidu, in an attempt to spoil the BJP-led NDA’s plans to form the government for a third straight term.

Earlier in the day, speculation ran rampant as Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav took the same flight from Delhi to Patna, with the RJD leader later giving a cryptic response when asked if TDP and JD(U) will join the INDIA bloc.

Yadav asked people to “wait and watch” when asked if attempts were being made to woo Kumar back to the opposition alliance. However, he asserted that their in-flight conversation was limited to exchanging courtesies.

‘Wait and Watch’

On a query if the opposition is looking at getting the numbers to stake claim for government formation, Yadav said, “We have come for the meeting today. Have patience, wait and watch what happens.”

Yadav also said that Bihar has emerged as “kingmaker” in this election, and hoped that the “kingmaker” will ensure that the new government gives a special status to Bihar, conducts caste census across the country, and to put 75 percent reservation given by Bihar in the ninth schedule of the Constitution, which will exempt it from judicial review.

“Bihar has emerged as the kingmaker. Whichever government comes, the kingmaker should ensure that Bihar gets a special status, the 75 per cent reservation we gave, that should be brought under Schedule 9, and caste census should be conducted across the country,” he said.

‘Naidu, Nitish won’t stay with an autocrat’: Raut

Meanwhile, in remarks having similar undertones, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said Naidu and Nitish, who have emerged as kingmakers following the astonishing Lok Sabha election results, must decide whether they want to join hands with an autocrat, a remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Chandrababu and Nitish Kumar have to decide whether they want to go with an autocrat and work in a democratic system. I don’t think they will go with an autocrat,” Raut told reporters in Mumbai.

“Modi ji is not forming a government for the third time,” he asserted.

Modi faced ‘moral defeat’

The Sena (UBT) leader said his party will not oppose if Congress leader Rahul Gandhi decides to lead the INDIA bloc government and be the prime ministerial face.

Raut also said PM Modi should accept that he has faced moral defeat as his party did not get a majority to form the government and that the Modi brand is now finished.

INDIA bloc leaders will meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence Wednesday evening to decide on the strategy to form the government.

Opposition leaders, including Sharad Pawar, M K Stalin, Champai Soren, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury, and D Raja are likely to attend the meeting, along with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Lok Sabha Election Results 2024

The Lok Sabha elections results on Tuesday threw a curveball with the BJP falling well short of the majority mark, bagging 240 seats, and unlike 2019, must now rely on its NDA allies to form the government.

With support from key allies N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the halfway mark.

(With PTI inputs)