NEW DELHI: Ahead of May 23 verdict, BJP chief Amit Shah will host a dinner for NDA allies on Tuesday. It will be preceded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting his ministerial colleagues at the party headquarters.
Buoyed by the exit polls predicting Modi will comfortably get a second term in office, Shah has invited all NDA allies for a meeting followed by dinner. Modi will participate in that meeting as well.
Leaders of alliance partners are expected to reach the national capital by Tuesday morning. Shah has already stated that the NDA would form the government even if the BJP on its own gets a majority in the Lok Sabha.
The Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) is likely to join the government in the event of a positive May 23 verdict. The JD(U) wasn’t part of the outgoing Modi government. Nitish’s party contested from 17 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
From Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and a few senior leaders of the AIADMK and leaders of all other NDA partners in the state will participate.
The BJP chief, sources said, isn’t reaching out to any political party outside the NDA. “The prime minister will essentially thank members of the council of ministers for works done as a team in the last five years,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Meanwhile, officials have also begun preparations for the swearing in of the new government.
“The Election Commission will submit the list of elected members of Lok Sabha by May 25 to President Ram Nath Kovind. Around the same time, the incumbent government will call the last Cabinet meeting and adopt two proposals — to dissolve the 16th Lok Sabha and summon a two-day session of the 17th Lok Sabha for swearing in of the new members,” said a senior official.
Ready for floor test: Kamal Nath
Hours after the BJP in Madhya Pradesh asked the Congress government to prove its majority and wrote to the state governor for convening a special Assembly session to discuss farm loan waiver, CM Kamal Nath said Monday he was ready for the floor test.
The BJP’s strategy is to force the House to vote on the issue since Kamal Nath has a wafer-thin majority. He will lose legitimacy if he loses the vote.
The BJP is already itching for power, buoyed as it is from the exit poll results