NDA team to take oath on May 26

Wednesday, 21/05/2014

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New Delhi : A National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, with 336 seats in the Lok Sabha of 543 members will take oath on May 26. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué said that President Pranab Mukherjee had appointed BJP leader Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and had requested him to advise names of members of his Council of Ministers.

Senior BJP leaders cautioned against speculation, but the unsaid word in Delhi on Tuesday is that Modi would have a clear say in the appointment of ministers. Modi leaves for Gujarat on Tuesday evening and is expected to return by Friday. BJP president Rajnath Singh submitted the names of only 335 Lok Sabha members to the President, since the leader of one of the alliance partners had not been able to reach Delhi.

Some parleys with BJP leaders have taken place at Gujarat Bhavan, where Modi has been staying over the last few days and several names are in the grapevine. A hint in Rajnath Singh’s press meet on the day of counting of votes seemed to echo in Modi’s speech.

In his emotional address, in which Modi pledged over and over again not to let down the Indians who had reposed hope and faith in the BJP, he emphasised new mantra of Saabka saath—sabka vikaas .

On Thursday, Rajnath Singh had simply said, subko leke chalna hai, at a moment, when it was quite clear that the BJP had secured a simple majority of 282 seats and would be able to form government on its own strength. Rajnath Singh had emphasised that the BJP would not leave by the wayside, its 29 allies who had walked with the party. It suggests that at least some of the 29 NDA partners may figure in the Council of Ministers. Speculations are rife in the capital on whether the swearing in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the evening of May 26 would initially include a small Cabinet of roughly a dozen ministers, which may subsequently be enlarged.

If gestures can be construed to be signals of things to come, only a few select allies were on the podium with senior BJP leaders and Narendra Modi, during the meeting of the NDA allies in the Central Hall of Parliament. NDA chairman Lal Krishna Advani had explained that their words would speak for all the other parties in the alliance.

Foremost on the podium was Punjab Chief Minister and SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal, who resorted to the analogy of ‘ghee’ in ‘khichdi’ to describe the closeness of his party’s ties with the BJP. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Naga People’s Front leader Neiphiu Rio, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan were among other allies to address the conference.