India may see a coalition govt
BJP secretary predicts ruling party will need allies to govern nation
NEW DELHI: A senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party forecasts it will require the support of allies to form India’s next government, the first time the prospect of a coalition has been raised as the country heads into the final two weeks of its marathon election campaign.
The conservative prediction by Ram Madhav, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national general secretary, is just short of a clear majority in the 543-seat parliament, and is far below what other party leaders, including finance minister Arun Jaitley and party president Amit Shah, have publicly claimed.
“If we get 271 seats on our own, we will be very happy,” Madhav said in an interview with Bloomberg news editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in New Delhi on Saturday.
“With NDA we will have a comfortable majority,” he said, referring to the National Democratic Alliance.
The party will make up expected losses in the north Indian states it swept in 2014 with new gains in the country’s remote northeast, as well as in the eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha, Madhav said.
It will pursue pro-growth policies if it returns to power, he added, and has not shifted from a focus on economic reforms to one based on populist cash handouts.
“We have expanded in eastern India very well – if similar efforts had been put into south India also, probably we would have been more comfortable,” Madhav said.
“As politicians, we must remember that what we achieved last time, we may not repeat because of anti-incumbency.”
The mood was more upbeat among the 50,000 people who packed into barren farmland covered in a huge tent near Bhadhoi – the carpet manufacturing capital of India – at one of Modi’s rallies.
Before the prime minister spoke, the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, warmed up the crowd.
“2014 was a Modi wave. 2019 is a Modi tsunami,” Maurya said.
“Your vote on the lotus will mean dropping 1,000 kilogram bombs on terrorist camps,” he said, referring to the party’s symbol – a lotus – which is featured along with other party insignia on the buttons on electronic voting machines.
Modi arrived in an India Air Force helicopter and was greeted like a rock star.
“What’s the reason for India’s success,” Modi asked as people chanted “Modi, Modi”.
“When India attacked terrorist camps did it make you proud? Is Modi right? Should we proceed on this path?” The crowd yelled “yes”.
Still, for all Modi’s harsh rhetoric on Pakistan, Madhav – who deals with some foreign policy issues for the party – sounded hopeful about India’s relations with its neighbour following a tense military clash in February. — Bloomberg