SENIOR BJP leaders, including Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, held deliberations through the day on Thursday as the party set in motion for Government formation. They met at BJP President J P Nadda’s residence in what was seen as part of the party’s exercise to reach out to allies over issues like their share of ministerial berths and pick the probables from within their party for the coalition Government. Newly-elected MPs of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are expected to meet Narendra Modi on Friday and senior members of the alliance like TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar will join the Prime Minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him.

 

He may be sworn in over the weekend, possibly on Sunday, they added. The NDA has 293 MPs, comfortably above the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Preparing to take oath for a third straight term as the head of a coalition Government, Modi had on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the ruling alliance’s members who unanimously elected him as its leader. Leaders of the BJP’s allyJanata Dal (United) also helddeliberations with partyPresident and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Though the regional partyhas not said anything officially on the issue, sources said itis looking to get some key ministerial berths to reclaim someof the lost ground in Biharwhere it has performed well after being seen to have fallen way behind the BJP and theRJD over the last few years inpolitical strength.With 12 MPs, the JD(U) is the second biggest BJP ally after theTelugu DesamParty’s 16. The new BJP-ledGovernment will depend critically on these two parties forsurvival.

 

BJP leaders are intouch with allies over ministerial berths and other issues. Naidu is keen that the Centreprovide Andhra Pradesh financialassistanceinbuilding its capital in Amaravati. He also wants the new Government to take steps to fulfill the Centre’s commitment to the State when Telangana was carved out of it, sources said. The backing of allies like the JD(U) is crucial for the BJP, as it could not reach the majority mark on its own in the Lok Sabha election. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday directed all party MPs to attend NDA’s Friday meeting in New Delhi. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari has been specially invited to the BJP meeting in Delhi on Friday. Themeetingwillbeattended by 12 newly elected BJP Lok Sabha members from West Bengal as well.

 

These includeStatepartyPresident SukantaMajumdar, whohas been re-elected from the Balurghat constituency in South Dinajpur district. Meanwhile, insiders from the State unit of the BJP said that despite falling much short of expectationsofelectoral achievements in West Bengal, the Central leadershipofthepartyhasacknowledgedthe effortsof Suvendu Adhikari in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls. The BJP bagged 240 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha,32shortofanabsolute majority, while the NDA secured 293 seats.