Looking to keep up the pressure on the Opposition after the BJP pulled off a stunning victory in Haryana, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will hold a meeting of all chief ministers and deputy chief ministers from the coalition in Chandigarh on Thursday, immediately after Nayab Singh Saini takes oath as the chief minister of the state for the second time.
The meeting, which comes ahead of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections, will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP President JP Nadda, among others. While India’s development and celebrating the Constitution are also on the agenda, a notable item is the “year of 50th anniversary of the attempt to murder democracy” – a reference to the Emergency – which is seen as being aimed squarely at the Congress and the opposition INDIA alliance.
The BJP alone has 13 chief ministers and 16 deputy chief ministers and the others in attendance at the show of strength and unity will be the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Nagaland and Meghalaya, who are from other NDA parties. A statement from the BJP said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will also “lead discussions”.
“Deliberations in this meeting will cover a structured agenda covering national development issues. It will also discuss subjects like the observance of Samvidhan Ka Amrut Mahotsav and the year of the 50th anniversary of the attempt to murder democracy,” the statement said.
Date Signalling
Mr Saini’s swearing-in ceremony and the meeting will both be held on Valmiki Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Maharishi Valmiki, the author of the Ramayan. The date, BJP sources said, has been carefully chosen to send a signal to Scheduled Castes, whose vote was seen as having tilted towards the INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP fell short of a majority for the first time in 10 years and had to settle for 240 seats.
The Congress, with its emphasis on the Constitution and narrative that the BJP wanted the NDA to have 400 MPs so it could make amendments and “end reservations”, bettered its tally to 99 while the INDIA alliance as a whole won 234.
The Opposition’s pitch seemed to have worked in Haryana as well, where the BJP was reduced to five out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats after its 2019 clean sweep, but things had changed by the time the Assembly elections were held a few months later. Defying exit poll predictions and battling perceived anti-incumbency and anger, the BJP managed to not only pull off a third straight win but also register its best-ever performance in the state.
BJP leaders said the Haryana elections were proof that the Scheduled Caste vote had returned to the party and the date of the swearing-in honours that. Dalit voters will also play a big role in the Maharashtra elections, which is seen as an uphill battle for the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition but appears to have been made a little easier after the Haryana victory.