BJP, RSS meet amid parleys on govt formation, sharing berths with NDA partners

Modi is expected to be sworn-in as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term on Sunday evening. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ are to attend the ceremony to which over 8,000 dignitaries have been invited.

Modi, along with NDA leaders including TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar, is expected to meet President Droupadi Murmu Friday to formally stake claim for government formation.

While the BJP has called its newly elected MPs, state unit chiefs and Chief Ministers to New Delhi for a meeting at 11 am Friday, presidents of all NDA partners and MPs are also expected to meet to formally elect Modi as the coalition’s leader before he heads to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

On Thursday, there were hectic parleys among BJP leaders to finalise details on government formation. Sources said the meeting at party chief J P Nadda’s residence was attended by RSS leaders, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.

Sources said the meeting with the RSS leaders was in the context of the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, “the changed political scenario” where the BJP will no longer enjoy absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, and that the new government will be an NDA government.

The leaders, sources said, met to “exchange notes, take perceptions from each other and share the impact of the electoral outcome”.

The BJP won 240 seats, 63 less than its 2019 tally of 303, and much lower than its target of 370 for the party and 400-plus for the NDA – the coalition ended up with 293 seats in the House of 543.

On the BJP-RSS ties, sources said while the “situation keeps changing… the relationship remains… it will improve.”

In an interview with The Indian Express on May 17, Nadda, responding to a question on how the RSS presence has changed between the time of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now, said, “Shuru mein hum aksham honge, thora kum honge, RSS ki zaroorat padti thi… Aaj hum badh gaye hain, saksham hai… toh BJP apne aap ko chalati hai (In the beginning, we would have been less capable, smaller and needed the RSS. Today, we have grown and we are capable. The BJP runs itself). That’s the difference.”

These remarks, a senior BJP leader said, did not go down well with the RSS. “The BJP cannot survive without the Sangh. If Sangh withdraws its backing, the BJP will not be able to stand up. Now that the party has realised it, it will improve. There cannot be any confrontation between the two,” the leader said.

Asked about the meeting in New Delhi, Sunil Ambekar, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of the RSS, told The Indian Express: “I have no information about the meeting. But communication keeps happening.”

Sources said the RSS leadership will be kept in the loop on the discussions on government formation and it will closely monitor the functioning of the BJP.

An overhaul of the BJP organisational structure is expected as Nadda’s extended term as party president ends in June and it has to choose a new president soon.

On government formation, BJP sources maintained that the details will be finalised only after talks with partner leaders. But the BJP, sources said, is keen to retain crucial portfolios such as Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs.

Although both the TDP and the JD (U) have indicated that the post of Speaker should go to the allies, the BJP, sources said, is “in no mood” to give it up, more so after a verdict in which the party lost majority in the House.