Rajya Sabha MP and senior leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Naresh Gujral, has said that his party’s long time ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), may not achieve full majority in the 2019 general elections, but will certainly form a coalition government.
Campaigning at Jalandhar, Gujral said, “The BJP may fall short of absolute majority but a stable coalition government will be formed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in which all allies will get a true representation in the cabinet as per their seat number.”
“I am not the only one who is saying it, even BJP’s senior leader Ram Madhav has predicted that party won’t get a full majority,” added Gujral.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Madhav had admitted that BJP will have to form a government with the support of its allies. Even senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that the government will be an “NDA government”, where the “allies will have a larger role.”
Reacting to six time MP, Subramanian Swamy’s statement that Modi may not be the Prime Minister if BJP doesn’t get an absolute majority, Gujral said, “Whosoever the BJP elects its leader, will be acceptable to us.”
Earlier, Gujral had warned the BJP over the issue of security of minorities and told it to respect the alliance partners, especially the regional parties.
“The Shiromani Akali Dal represents the farmers. So we will demand plum portfolios related to agriculture in the cabinet. We want implementation of the Swaminathan commission report so that farmers get their due share,” he said.
In 2014, BJP had achieved an absolute majority by winning 282 of the 543 seats. The 2019 election results will be declared on May 23.