Lok Sabha Elections: 'Modi govt will be unstable'—What Sanjay Raut said on Naidu, Nitish Kumar staying with NDA

Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, speaking to media persons on Wednesday, said the BJP would give an “unstable government” and that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal-United (JD U) have to decide whether they want to join hands with those from whom democracy is under threat. 

Sanjay Raut was responding to questions on the chances of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc forming the government at the Centre. Speaking in Hindi, he said: “Ab Nitish Kumar aur Chandrababu sabhi ke dost hain…Mujhe nahi lagta hai ki Chandrababu and Nitish Kumar jaise log desh ke loktantra aur samvindhan ko jin logon se khatra hai unke saath jaayenge. (Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar are everyone's friends. I don't think they should support those who pose a threat to the democracy and the constitution.)"

He further said, "Where does BJP have the majority? They are stuck on 237-240. I believe that Modi ji and BJP don’t have the majority. They want to give an unstable government. It is not Modi ji’s work to run such a government. He used to talk about Modi ki sarkar, modi ki guarantee…If they try to form a government, it will not stay. We have the mandate and the number.”

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The INDIA bloc leaders will meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Wednesday evening to deliberate on the Lok Sabha poll results, decide on the strategy to form the government, and consider reaching out to former allies Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu.

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The TDP and JD(U) have already dismissed suggestions of defecting to the opposition alliance.

Opposition leaders, including NCP-SP’s Sharad Pawar, DMK’s MK Stalin, JMM’s Champai Soren, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, and CPI’s D Raja are likely to attend the meeting, along with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. According to reports last received, it was not confirmed whether Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray would be attending the meeting.

The BJP is short of the majority mark of 272 seats and is hoping to form the government a third time with its allies.

With support from Naidu's TDP in Andhra Pradesh and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) in Bihar, which won 16 and 12 Lok Sabha seats, respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA can cross the halfway mark.