New Delhi:
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge today claimed that the NDA government was formed by mistake and could fall at any time. His comments come days after speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party was struggling to maintain its alliances.
“The NDA government was formed by mistake. Modi ji does not have the mandate. It is a minority government. This government can fall at any time,” Kharge told reporters in Bengaluru.
“We would like this to continue, for it to be good for the country, we must work together to strengthen the country,” he added.
The NDA won 293 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The BJP, which enjoyed a large majority in the previous two terms, won just 240 seats, far short of the 272 needed to form a government.
The four allies whose support helped the BJP form the government for a record third term are N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, which won 16 seats, Nitish Kumar’s JDU (12), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena (7) and the Lok Party. Janshakti-Ram by Chirag Paswan. Vilas (5).
Kharge’s jibe at the coalition government received a swift response from NDA leaders.
The Janata Dal (United) leader asked Mr. Kharge for the scorecards of prime ministers when the Congress had formed coalition governments.
In the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won a similar number of seats as the BJP won in 2024. Without a clear majority, the Congress formed a minority government under PV Narasimha Rao. Rao then engineered a split into smaller parties, turning a minority Congress into a majority party within two years.