Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav Take Same Flight To Delhi For Key NDA, INDIA Bloc Meetings

The two leaders of Bihar, one affiliated with the BJP and the other with the Congress boarded a Vistara flight at 10:30 a.m from Patna.

NDA Meeting: With the BJP failing to secure a two-thirds majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA and INDIA partners will hold key meetings today to try to put together the numbers needed to form the government. With intense negotiations underway to form the next government at the Centre, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav have departed from the same flight for Delhi.

The two leaders of Bihar, one affiliated with the BJP and the other with the Congress boarded a Vistara flight at 10:30 a.m from the Patna Airport. As the INDIA bloc led by the Congress considers forming a government at the centre, all eyes will be on what transpires between the two leaders during the flight. The results for 542 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats were released by the Election Commission of India. The Congress won 99 seats and the BJP 240.

Key NDA Meeting In Delhi

While the NDA has a comfortable majority of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the BJP has fallen short of the magic number for the first time since 2014 and is relying heavily on its allies to form government.

The BJP received support from key allies N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, as well as other alliance partners.

JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, as well as Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who is set to become the next Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, are expected to attend the meeting, which will also include top leaders from the BJP and its allies.

Both Nitish and Babu are expected to meet with PM Modi to discuss the details of the new government, which will most likely be different in composition and character, with a larger share for the BJP's allies. The Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Chirag Paswan's LJP (Ram Vilas) have won seven, and five seats, respectively, and will play an important role in government formation.