Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in for a third consecutive term, the newly elected MPs of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are set to meet today to finalize the list of cabinet ministers.
PM Modi and his new cabinet members will take their oaths tomorrow evening at a grand ceremony. Modi will become the first three-term Prime Minister since Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru.
The BJP secured 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, falling 32 seats short of the majority mark. The four allies crucial for the BJP to reach the majority are N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, which won 16 seats, Nitish Kumar’s JDU (12), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena (7), and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (5).
TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and JDU’s Nitish Kumar publicly accepted the proposal to elect Mr. Modi as the alliance’s prime ministerial candidate yesterday. They have also provided written support to PM Modi amid speculations that opposition leaders could approach them to stake a claim.
Negotiations are now focused on the BJP and its key allies – TDP and JD(U) – both of which are vying for significant positions in the central government. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction and Chirag Paswan’s LJP are also seeking key portfolios in the new cabinet led by Prime Minister Modi.
The INDIA bloc, on the other hand, mounted a strong challenge to the BJP in a national election for the first time since the ‘Modi wave’ of 2014. The opposition alliance finished with 232 seats, 40 short of the 272-majority mark. The Congress, which led the INDIA opposition bloc, secured 99 wins from the 328 seats it contested.