Shah to host dinner for allies today

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the declaration of results for the Lok Sabha elections on May 23, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will host allies of ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over dinner on Tuesday, according to senior functionaries of the party aware of the matter.

The saffron party is buoyed by the results of Sunday’s exit polls, most of which predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return to power at the Centre with a healthy majority. The Bjp-led NDA, which came to power in 2014 winning 336 seats, is again expected to comfortably cross the 300-mark in the 543 member Lok Sabha, according to many of the polls.

Even as the opposition parties are sceptical about the exit poll predictions, preparation for the swearing-in ceremony are being planned in the BJP, one of the senior functionaries cited above said. He added that Shah and Modi are also expected to meet the council of ministers at the party headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.

“There are various issues that will be discussed at the party forum and there is nothing unusual about meetings held before and after elections,” said the functionary, who asked not to be named.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, which began on April 11 and concluded on May 19, were fought bitterly with the BJP taking on a formidable Samajwadi Party-bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh, while battling strong incumbent governments in West Bengal (Trinamool Congress) and Odisha (Biju Janata Dal), apart from a pan-india fight against the Congress.