NDA allies seek their pound of flesh: Unfamiliar terrain for Modi, hard bargaining begins

A BJP statement released after the afternoon meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence said Modi had been 'unanimously' chosen leader, with the partners hailing his 'hard work and efforts (at) nation-building'

J.P. Yadav, TT, New Delhi, 06.06.24 ; Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar.: File Photo.

An NDA meeting on Wednesday endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the alliance leader as hard bargaining by partners for key portfolios and concessions for their states played out in the background, sources said.

A BJP statement released after the afternoon meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence said Modi had been “unanimously” chosen leader, with the partners hailing his “hard work and efforts (at) nation-building”.

Modi will be formally elected leader of the NDA at a meeting of the newly elected MPs on Friday, and is likely to be sworn in for a third term on Saturday, BJP leaders said.

Sources within key partners Telugu Desam Party and JDU, however, revealed the hard bargaining — the hallmark of a coalition government — that lay behind the leaders’ smiling faces at the meeting, thereby indicating the unfamiliar pressures Modi 3.0 is up against.

Desam boss Chandrababu Naidu, a master at extracting his pound of flesh in a coalition government, wants the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post for his party in addition to “special category status” for his state Andhra Pradesh, his party sources said.

They added that Naidu had also demanded the home and defence portfolios, held by Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, respectively, in the outgoing government.

Bihar chief minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar too pressed for a similar concession for his “backward state”, smelling an opportunity like never before to realise

a longstanding demand, sources said.

A JDU leader said that Nitish also wants the central government to carry out a countrywide caste census, similar to the one he has conducted in Bihar.

The Desam’s 16 MPs and the JDU’s 12 are crucial for the BJP, which has only 240 seats in a House where the majority mark is 272.

Naidu, set to become chief minister of Andhra, had walked out of the NDA in 2018 over the issue of special category status, which ensures a state gets more central funds, grants-in-aid, and industrial incentives.

“For the TDP, a special category status for Andhra is a must as the state has been left high and dry after Telangana was carved out of it (in 2014),” a Desam leader said.

The Desam is firm on its demand for the Speaker’s post since it knows how adept the BJP is at breaking parties to acquire a majority of its own, sources said. When members defect, the Speaker decides on disqualification.

Less than a month after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, four of the six Desam members in the Rajya Sabha had joined the BJP — a history that appears to be very much on the Desam’s mind.

The Desam had been given a cabinet post and a junior minister’s berth in the first Modi government of 2014, but it now wants a bigger share of the pie given the BJP’s dependence on its support.

Nitish too is learnt to be eyeing a few important ministries that would help him get projects to Bihar, particularly in the fields of agriculture and rural development.

Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, which has five MPs, wants the railways, a portfolio his late father Ram Vilas Paswan held for a long time.

The BJP leadership has assigned Rajnath, Shah and party president J.P. Nadda to hold talks with the allies and work out the contours of the government.