Elections 2024 results: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke on Tuesday about the strong performance of the Opposition INDIA bloc and hinted that they could try some political engineering to form the next government at the Centre. Uddhav Thackeray said that the Congress and other INDIA bloc leaders are talking with NDA partners like JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu.
The remarks by the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders comes as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is restricted on 240 seats, well below the majority mark of 272. The National Democratic Alliance is hovering around 290 seats, which means that they will form the next government for the third consecutive term, but INDIA bloc is probing the possibilities of some negotiation with Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu.
Uddhav Thackeray further said that they need to stake the claim to form the next government at the Centre, and it is made to appear that the BJP-led NDA has numbers to form the next government. While speaking on the future plans of the Opposition alliance, Uddhav Thackeray said that the top leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet on June 5 and will make a decision.
The developments come as both BJP and INDIA bloc leaders have attempted to reach out to JD(U) and TDP chief.
The number game
The INDIA bloc will have 235 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha and it remains to be seen if they are able to break NDA and get the crucial support of JD(U), which won/leading on 12 seats at the moment and TDP which won/leading on 16 seats. Even if both parties agree to join INDIA bloc, the Opposition alliance will still require support of many smaller parties and independent candidates to think about forming the next government at Centre.
“We will hold a meeting with our alliance partners…tomorrow. These questions will be raised and answered there…I respect our alliance partners, and we won’t make any statements without asking our alliance partners,” senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said when asked about the future plans.
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Published: 04 Jun 2024, 08:32 PM IST