The NDA seemed all set to grow in strength as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the AIADMK on Wednesday warmed up to the BJP-led alliance after the exit polls showed the country had given thumps up to the projected leadership of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. UPA ally NCP, meanwhile, dismissed speculation about cosying up to the NDA with BJP leader Gopinath Munde saying his party will not “feel their need”.
Senior leaders of both the BJD and the AIADMK went public with their wholesome praise for Modi even as BJD chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said they were yet to take any decision on the issue of support and were awaiting the lok Sabha poll results.
Though one of her close advisers told the national media in New Delhi that the AIADMK may consider extending support to the NDA Government at the Centre, party chief and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa declined to reveal her mind to local journalists in Chennai. “Please wait till the results are announced. Everything will be clear once the results are declared,” Jayalalithaa told reporters on her arrival at the Chennai airport after her brief stay at the Kodanandu Retreat in the Western Ghats.
Earlier in the day, Mailsamy, a former Rajya Sabha member of the AIADMK, had told reporters that his party would consider extending support to the NDA. Mailsamy went silent after that TV interview and was not available for further comments. Ramanathan, a AIADMK leader, told The Pioneer that decisions about AIADMK’s future plans would be announced only by Jayalalithaa as no one else is allowed to speak to the media.
Though Jayalalithaa was critical of both Narendra Modi and the BJP during the high voltage election campaign for the 16th lok Sabha, the debate was based on the models of development followed by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. It is an open secret that both Jayalalithaa and Modi maintain cordial personal relations.
While Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik remained non-committal on supporting an NDA formation, other party leaders did not rule out the possibility and favoured conditional support to the NDA Government. “No talks at all. We have not discussed anything. We have not thought of it as yet.
let us wait till the results,” Patnaik said. However, BJD’s chief whip Pravat Tripathy said, “Keeping in view the opinion of the whole country and the State’s interest, there should be no problem in providing conditional support to the NDA to form a Government at the Centre.”
Senior BJD leader Jay Panda said the matter needs to be discussed within the party and a call on this will be taken by the party supremo. “On this issue, Pravat Tripathi has suggested that conditional support can be given but this is an issue which needs discussion inside the party and ultimately the party leaders and party president Naveen Patnaik will take the final call,” Panda said.
Analysts, however, feel the BJD could support the NDA as it would want BJP’s support in the Odisha Assembly in the event of the BJD not getting an absolute majority there. BJP leaders, on their part, have said their doors are open for any party which extends support to it even though they claim that the NDA will get a clear majority.
There was also speculation that the NCP was cosying up to the BJP ahead of the formation of the next Government, after its leader Praful Patel said the country should have a “stable” Government which will “decisively govern” for the next five years. The NCP, however, dismissed it saying the party will remain with the UPA.