Many NDA partners have already deserted the alliance since formation of the government at the Centre after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s electoral defeat in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh seems to have emboldened its partners in the National Democratic Alliance led by it and they are likely to put pressure on the party to give more seats to them in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
According to sources, Shiv Sena has expressed its desire to contest half of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. On the other hand, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujaral has said that his party would like the BJP to quickly settle the seat-sharing issue with allies.
This comes close on the heels of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader Upendra Kushwaha pulling out of the alliance and resigning as Minister of State in the Narendra Modi government.
Trouble has started brewing in Assam where alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) campaigned against the BJP during the recently concluded panchayat elections despite being a part of NDA. The issue was discussed at the national office-bearers’ meeting in the national capital. Assam BJP president Ranjit Kumar Das briefed senior party leaders about the way AGP acted against the spirit of the alliance. The two parties have a strained relationship for some time now.
Shiv Sena, whose relationship with the BJP has been facing rough weather for quite some time, has sharpened its attack against the BJP.
“The BJP has been talking about a ‘Congress-free’ country. However, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has beaten them in their own turf. This is the defeat of ‘injustice and lies’. Pride has been restored and ego crushed,” said an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
Sources said that the Shiv Sena is also mounting pressure on the BJP to hold the Assembly elections along with the general polls so that the BJP could not dump it as it had done after the last parliamentary elections.
A shrinking NDA has become a matter of concern for the BJP and the party leadership is likely to address the issue now since the Assembly elections are over.
Many NDA partners have already deserted the alliance since formation of the government at the Centre after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Haryana Janhit Congress was the first to leave the alliance, soon after the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Telugu Desham Party (TDP) joined the NDA just before the elections, but left it early this year and joined hands with Congress. People’s Democratic Party (PDP), too, joined hands with the BJP to form government in Jammu and Kashmir around three years ago, but the coalition broke this year.
Other parties which left the alliance include Swabhimani Paksha (Maharashtra), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Bihar) and Naga People’s Front (Nagaland), while Mizo National Front (MNF), which is all set to form government in Mizoram on its own after a landslide victory in the recently concluded elections, is also said to be maintaining a distance from NDA.
The BJP also has strained relationship with Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has three MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Hence, the ruling party is mulling to bring in somemore partners into the NDA fold to strengthen the alliance before the parliamentary elections early next year.