In politics, the fist which is worth less than dust sometimes becomes worth lakhs with the changing times. Till a few months ago, the luck of these two leaders seemed to be against them. One was the target of his opponents even while sitting on the CM’s chair, while the other was struggling to get the CM’s chair again. But the wheel of time has turned in such a way that these two old stalwarts of politics have suddenly come into the role of kingmakers. They now have two strings of Modi Government 3.0 which they can use for their political benefit. We are talking about the current Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and the future Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu.
This time after the results of the Lok Sabha elections, the power of these two has increased a lot. Forming the next government without their support is not easy. That is why Nitish and Naidu are going to play a big role in the Modi government for the third time. Without their support, it is very difficult for the Modi government to garner the majority figure.
If these two parties are removed from the total number of NDA, then NDA will be left with only 262 MPs which will be 10 less than the majority. After all, why are we talking about these two leaders only? To know this, it is necessary to dig into the past history.
Nitish in, Nitish out
Nitish Kumar has been one of the founding members of NDA. He remained with NDA continuously from 1996 to 2013. But when BJP declared Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate in 2013, Nitish left NDA after 17 years.
After this, he joined the Mahagathbandhan with Lalu Yadav’s RJD and Congress in Bihar. He fought the 2015 assembly elections with the Mahagathbandhan and became the CM again without Bihar, but in 2017, Nitish once again joined the NDA and fought the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 assembly elections with the NDA. But Nitish’s mind wavered once again and in 2022, he again broke ties with the NDA and joined the Mahagathbandhan.
By 2024, Nitish Kumar once again took a U-turn and joined the NDA a few months before the Lok Sabha elections. Between 2013 and 2024, Nitish has switched sides with both the alliances twice. In such a situation, the danger of his turning back will remain on the NDA government this time too, which will also affect the stability of the government.
However, Nitish’s party with 12 MPs alone will not be able to reduce the majority of the government. To put pressure on the government, he will also need the support of Telugu Desam Party which has 16 MPs. This means that Nitish will also have to bring TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu with him, who is a great player in politics like him.
With Modi, Against Modi
N Chandrababu Naidu’s relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter. In 2014, Naidu contested elections with NDA and NDA coalition government was also formed in Andhra Pradesh. But by 2018, the distance between Naidu and BJP increased so much that he left NDA. After leaving NDA, Naidu made a lot of statements against PM Modi and made big claims of defeating him in the elections.
Naidu contested the 2019 Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections alone and faced a crushing defeat. But when Naidu’s fortunes declined, he became isolated in Andhra Pradesh politics. After this, Naidu kept trying continuously to re-enter the NDA.
After waiting for several months, BJP re-inducted him in NDA and in 2024, he not only won a huge majority in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly but also 16 TDP candidates won the Lok Sabha elections. Now these 16 MPs will play a big role in the game of majority numbers, due to which Naidu’s power has also increased significantly.
Chandrababu Naidu had also done a lot of political bargaining during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and had made life difficult for Prime Minister Vajpayee.
Obviously, the past behaviour of Nitish and Naidu will remain the biggest headache for the Modi 3.0 government. After BJP, TDP and JDU have the highest number of MPs in the NDA. In such a situation, keeping both Nitish and Naidu satisfied will be the biggest challenge for PM Modi.
Tags: Chandrababu Naidu, Lok Sabha Election 2024, Lok Sabha Elections, modi government, Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 5, 2024, 20:43 IST