Oppn plans coalition list to stake claim in event of hung verdict

OPPOSITION LEADERS SAID ANDHRA PRADESH CM N CHANDRABABU NAIDU HAD TAKEN THE INITIATIVE TO SUBMIT SUCH A MEMORANDUM TO PRESIDENT RAM NATH KOVIND

NEW DELHI: Even as exit polls at the end of the 17th general election on Sunday pointed to a clear edge for the Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a section of the Opposition was planning to launch a pre-emptive strike by submitting a list of parties committed to an alternative government to the President before May 23, when the results will be declared.

Opposition leaders said Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had taken the initiative to submit such a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind. The move is aimed at improving the chances of an Opposition coalition being invited to form the next government by the President in case a hung Parliament emerges from the seven-phase election.

Naidu told opposition leaders that if there was no such prior intimation to the President, the BJP and its pre-poll partners in the NDA would have a clear edge in getting the first chance to form government and proving a majority in the House.

“His calculation is that the BJP will end up getting less than 200 seats and if that happens, the gap between the NDA and the other side would not be wide. But if the letter of intent with signature of all willing parties are not given to the President, the scattered Opposition is no match against the NDA,” a senior Opposition leader said on condition of anonymity.