BJP not untouchable any more, especially after exit polls

New Delhi: In a day when India’s two largest national parties behaved as if the results of the parliamentary election, due on Friday, were already out, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent the day trying to find roles for its senior leaders if media reports are to be believed; the Congress was pretty much invisible, and two regional parties that were expected to be part of the much-vaunted Third Front seemed to indicate their willingness to do business with the BJP.

The approaches of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) were as intriguing as they were similar. For one, they were made by individual members. For another, the all-powerful leaders of the two parties, Naveen Patnaik and J. Jayalalithaa chose to remain silent.

The BJD was once part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), as was the AIADMK.

 

 

Wednesday’s developments came even as exit polls predicted that the BJP-led NDA would come to power after the elections. Sure, exit polls have got it wrong before, most recently in 2004 and 2009, but the behaviour of the smaller parties, as well as the two national ones does seem to suggest that they could have got it right this time.

On Wednesday, the BJD, Odisha’s ruling party that fought against the BJP in the state, was the first off the block with one of its senior leaders indicating the party could extend issue-based support to the BJP-led government.

“Keeping in view the opinion of the whole country and the state’s interest, there should be no problem in providing conditional support to NDA to form government at the centre,” BJD’s chief whip Pravat Tripathy told a regional channel in Bhubaneswar. Later in the day, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, another party leader tweeted: “Re: Possibility of conditionl support to NDA: it’s a suggestion mooted by 1 (one) member of BJD, not been discussed in the party, let’s wait for results

 

Later, a leader from Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK said his party chief and state chief minister Jayalalithaa would like to have “close ties” with Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

“Modi is great friend of Jayalalithaa, they may differ politically. If he becomes PM then Madam would like close ties,” AIADMK leader and former member of Parliament K. Malaisamy told NDTV news channel. The party supremo herself chose to hold her opinion, preferring to wait for the formal announcement of the electoral verdict, as did the BJD’s Naveen Patnaik.

“No talks at all (with) NDA. We haven’t discussed anything (on support to NDA). We have not thought of anything yet,” Patnaik said on Wednesday.

The third large regional party, West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress, said it would not seek any sort of relationship with the BJP.

In an interview on Times Now channel, the party spokesperson Derek O’Brien said the party would stick to its pre-election position of not aligning itself with the BJP.

The exit polls project a good performance for the AIADMK, BJD and TMC; if the polls are right, they could account for as many as 102 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. More importantly, they could also contribute to the NDA’s cause in the Rajya Sabha, where it is presently in a minority; 28 MPs in the Rajya Sabha belong to these three political parties. At present the NDA has 60 MPs in the 245-member upper house.

An expert said forging ties with regional parties could help the BJP isolate the Congress.

Sanjay Kumar, of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said, “Yes there is an attempt to isolate Congress and project at the national level that the BJP is not untouchable any longer. Once all parties are ready to support it or join hands with it, the national picture of BJP would change. This coming together of parties will definitely help BJP get crucial legislation passed in the Rajya Sabha.”

The BJP signalled as much.

“It’s a favourable situation for the party. BJP is open to outside support (from the regional parties). The party has already made it clear it will seek support from all the parties to run the government.,” said party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

Relationships with regional parties would also help the BJP render powerless the only party it sees as a threat at the national level, the Congress, said Sushil Trivedi, a Raipur-based political analyst.

Earlier in the day, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a key constituent 

Earlier in the day, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a key constituent of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) denied reports that it was warming up to the BJP.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel’s remark that the party preferred a stable government at the centre was interpreted as an attempt to move closer to the NDA.

“We are with UPA and will remain with UPA. If there is an NDA government headed by Narendra Modi, we will sit in the opposition,” the party’s chief spokesperson D.P. Tripathi told PTI