38 parties to attend NDA meeting Tuesday, shows its expansion, says BJP

Addressing a rare press conference, Nadda attributed the reason for the NDA’s expansion to “the positive impact of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes and policies”.

He also attacked the Opposition meeting in Bengaluru, calling its unity “hollow… based on selfishness”. It neither had a leader, nor a policy or the power to take decisions, Nadda said, addressing the press conference at the BJP headquarters.

Addressing a press conference at BJP Head Office, New Delhi. https://t.co/uRNPrAKF0e

— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) July 17, 2023

The NDA meeting, incidentally, is scheduled to begin at 4 pm, just as the Opposition wraps up its talks in Bengaluru.

If the Opposition has put out names of 26 parties that are set to participate in the talks Tuesday, the NDA gathering will see the AIADMK, Shiv Sena (Shinde), NPP (National People’s Party, Meghalaya), NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, Nagaland), SKM (Sikkim Krantikari Morcha), JJP (Jannayak Janata Party), AJSU (All Jharkhand Students’ Union), RPI (Republican Party of India), MNF (Mizo National Front), Tamil Maanila Congress, Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam (IMKMK) from Tamil Nadu, IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura), BPP (Bodo People’s Party), PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi), MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party), Apna Dal, AGP (Asom Gana Parishad), Rashtriya Lok Jan Shakti Party, Nishad Party, UPPL (United People’s Party Liberal, Assam), AIRNC (All India NR Congress, Puducherry), Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt, Dhadial), Jana Sena (Pawan Kalyan), NCP (Ajit Pawar group), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas Paswan), HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha), RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samata Party), VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party, Mukesh Sahni) and SBSP (Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Om Prakash Rajbhar), among others.

The Opposition, Nadda said, was “part and parcel of the 10 years of the UPA government’s corruption and non-governance”.

Asked about the induction of a number of leaders whom the party called corrupt in the past in the NDA, Nadda said “law will take its own course” in the cases, and insisted that the BJP was “consistent and continuous” in pursuing its ideology and its goal of a strong nation.

“The BJP is the only party that, since it came into existence, has pursued issues ideologically — be it the Ram Temple or Article 370, we have always stood for a strong nation. We were for nuclear tests and Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee) went ahead with them… We have been consistent. And it’s an ideological journey… Some people understand us today, some tomorrow. If not today, we will get them after five or 10 years,” Nadda said.

On taking in leaders who have not risen from the party’s ranks, Nadda said the BJP has no issue if others commit to its goals. “After all, we cannot do development alone. Everyone has to be a part of it.”

Asked whether the BJP was still “a party with a difference”, Nadda said: “Ideology and pursuing it is a saswat vishay (permanent issue), but the strategy is always changing and is dynamic. What you find wrong today may be correct tomorrow. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the ideology… If Rajinder Nagar is flooded, would you not go via Patel Nagar?”

The Opposition parties, in contrast, Nadda said, were “Bhanumati ka kunba (a clan with deep differences and contradictions)”. “Kahin ki eent, kahin ka rodha, Bhanumati ne kunba joda (Bricks from one place, rubble from another, that is how Bhanumati built the clan).”

Nadda added: “It’s a coalition of parties that got together to avoid action over the Rs 20 lakh crore corruption during the UPA regime. They will make more compromises in the future.”

But, Nadda said, the BJP “never fights elections on other people’s weakness, but on its own strengths”.

Nadda claimed parties wanted to join the NDA due to the Modi government’s focus on good governance and development, and that the return of the Modi-led BJP to power in 2024 was guaranteed.

Asked about parties having left the NDA in the recent past, Nadda said it was not the BJP that snapped ties. “And, in spite of their exit from the NDA, we have warm ties with them… because our broader picture is sabka saath, sabka vikas,” he said, adding that the BJP never “invites” anyone to join but just specifies its agenda.

On the Opposition’s charge that the government is using its investigative agencies to keep the NDA together, Nadda said: “The Congress does not know anything; they don’t read or study. The NDA has been there for 25 years. Is there any one single case the court has rejected so far? In which case have the accused been let off?… These are independent agencies.”

The projection of the NDA at this level comes after several years of growing distance between the BJP and allies, with the latter bristling under the control of the powerful BJP. However, with 2024 polls near, and its need for a bigger pool of seats to draw on, the BJP has been reaching out to both former and new allies. The measures have acquired fresh urgency since the BJP’s big loss to the Congress in Karnataka.