Prime Minister Narendra Modi met former President Ram Nath Kovind, in the national capital before staking a claim to form the government at the Centre for a third consecutive term.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi visited the residences of veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.
During the meeting at the Samvidhan Sadan of the Parliament building, the Prime Minister received a warm welcome with chants of ‘Modi Modi’. Upon entering the meeting, he respectfully touched his forehead to the Constitution of India.
At the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar expressed confidence that all pending works in Bihar will now be fulfilled.
“It is a very good thing that all of us have come together and we will all work together with you (PM Modi). You will be swearing in as the Prime Minister on Sunday, but I wanted you to do it today itself. Whenever you take the oath, we will be with you. We will all work together under your leadership,” he said.
BJP MP-elect Nitin Gadkari, JD(S) MP-elect HD Kumaraswamy, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) National President Chirag Paswan, Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, HAM(S) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi, and others lent their support to the proposal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan shared a candid moment at the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting.
Following the NDA Parliamentary meeting, NDA leaders will proceed to Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit their letter of support to the President.
On Wednesday, leaders of parties in the NDA convened a meeting and elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi as their leader. PM Modi subsequently stated that the NDA will strive towards building a developed India.
Meanwhile, sources indicate that Narendra Modi is likely to be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term on June 9.
As per the Election Commission of India’s announcement on Tuesday, the BJP secured 240 seats, and together with its allies, it holds 293 seats. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU, with 16 and 12 seats respectively in their respective states, have pledged their support to the NDA.
“You can ask any child whose government was in power before the Lok Sabha Elections? He will say NDA. Then ask him who formed the govt after 2024, and he will say NDA…Pehle bhi NDA thi, aaj bhi NDA hai, aur kal bhi NDA hai’…Even after 10 years, Congress could not touch the figure of 100 seats,” the PM said in his address.
PM Modi said that in terms of numbers in the history of coalition, this is the strongest coalition government.
“For me, all the leaders of all the parties are equal in the Parliament. When we talk about Sabka Prayaas, for us everyone becomes equal whether they are from our party or not. This is the reason the NDA alliance has been strong and moved ahead in the last 30 years,” he said.
“NDA is a group committed to the nation first. It must have been assembled in the beginning after a long period of 30 years. But today I can say that NDA is an organic alliance in the political system of India and great leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Parkash Singh Badal, Balasaheb Thackeray…who sown the seed, today the people of India have watered the trust of NDA and turned that seed into a fruitful one. We all have the legacy of such great leaders and we are proud of it. In the past 10 years, we have tried to move forward with the same legacy, the same values of NDA and to take the country forward,” he said.
PM Modi also vowed to continue his efforts towards consenus as he called the NDA the most successful alliance.
“I assure the people of the country that the majority they gave us to run the government, it will be our effort that we will strive towards consensus and leave no stone unturned towards taking the country forward…NDA has completed around 3 decades, it is no ordinary thing…I can say that this is the most successful alliance,” he said.
The NDA won 293 seats with BJP winning 240 on its own in the Lok Sabha polls.