Thirty-eight parties allied with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have confirmed their attendance at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting to be held on Tuesday in Delhi, BJP National President JP Nadda said on Monday. He remarked that while the NDA is for "strengthening India", the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is 'leaderless and policyless'. He dismissed the Opposition alliance as "good only for a photo opportunity."
Targeting the Opposition, Nadda said: "National Democratic Alliance is an ideal alliance meant to serve and strengthen the country...UPA neither has a leader nor does it have the power to take decisions. It is an alliance based on selfish interests and is only for photo opportunities."
He remarked that UPA's 10 years were of "non-governance and corruption", claiming that India has decided to give the mandate to BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership again in 2024.
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He highlighted the Modi government's record saying that it delivered 'Good governance' in the last 9 years and that the NDA government is continuously working on it. "Rs 28 lakh crore have been directly transferred to the beneficiary (DBT) till date," he mentioned, as per news agency ANI.
"In the last 9 years, we have seen the strong leadership of PM Modi which has been appreciated by many. Zero tolerance for corruption has also increased. The PM has also set an example in Covid-19 management," he said.
Nadda has invited Rashtriya Lok Janta Dal President Upendra Kushwaha to the NDA meeting. Notably, NCP's Ajit Pawar will attend the session seen as a show of strength by the ruling alliance, as per party leader Praful Patel.
Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), who has also been invited for the NDA meeting, visited senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday.
Paswan is in discussions with the BJP to finalise his party's share of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar for the general elections in 2024, and the meeting is seen as part of that deliberation.
In invitation letters sent to parties, Nadda wrote that the NDA meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 18 at 5 pm at Hotel Ashok in New Delhi in the presence of Prime Minister Modi.
The session comes amid the two-day Joint Opposition meeting beginning in Bengaluru today for which several prominent leaders like Congress party's Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann arriving to attend the informal dinner to be held today ahead of the formal discussions tomorrow.
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