The NDA meeting will be chaired by BJP President JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Opposition meet is being hosted by Congress.
Next week will see a high-stakes political battle in the nation as the opposition and the ruling NDA both flex their political muscles in preparation for national elections in 2019. While 24 opposition parties will meet in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday to resolve their differences and present a united front against the BJP before the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, which begins on July 20, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has announced a mega meet in New Delhi on Tuesday, expecting nearly 30 parties to reiterate support for the alliance.
JP Nadda, the president of the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the NDA meeting.
The BJP has not only invited their coalition partners but also a number of new and former allies to the meeting, which will take place at Delhi’s Ashok Hotel on Tuesday night. Not all of the NDA’s parties are represented in the legislature.
Four leaders from Bihar have been invited, and their organisations will be part of the NDA: Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha, Upendra Singh Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, and Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party.
Om Prakash Rajbhar, a former ally of Akhilesh Yadav, announced earlier today that he would rejoin the NDA, and Dara Singh Chauhan, a Samajwadi Party legislator from Ghosi in the Mau district, resigned from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly yesterday and joined the BJP after meeting Home Minister Amit Shah.Even after much conjecture, the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is run by the Badal family, would not be a part of the NDA. According to sources, the BJP won’t join forces with these groups. In Punjab, it intends to run alone, and in Andhra Pradesh, it will join forces with Pawan Kalyan’s JanaSena Party.
There are currently 24 parties in the NDA, including the BJP, AIADMK, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), National People’s Party, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, Janayak Janta Party, Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhgam, All Jharkhand Students Union, Republic Party of India, MNF, Mizo National Front, TMC, Tamil Manila Congress, IPFT, Bodo
The following new parties will join the ruling coalition: NCP (Nationalist Congress Party Ajit Pawar faction), Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha), RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samta Party), VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party), and SBSP (Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party Om Prakash Rajbhar).
After weeks of hesitation, the Congress today decided to support the Aam Aadmi Party’s fight against the controversial government decree that restored control of Delhi’s bureaucracy, improving the chances of an opposition gathering scheduled for the next day.