(3/5) What's in for the NDA government

Hello everyone. Welcome to the third part of the election series. Today we are going to talk about the future of the NDA government. Will it sustain till 2029? What new policies we can expect and not expect?  Who are the ministers in Modi's third cabinet? And what are the allies expecting?

The BJP won 240 seats failing to cross the majority mark of 272. This makes the BJP the single largest party in the parliament and the largest in NDA. The second place is won by the Telugu Desam Party(TDP) of the NDA winning 16 seats. The third being grabbed by the JD(U) winning 12 seats. Then we have the Shiv Sena (Shinde Faction) winning 7 seats, LJP winning 5 seats, Jana Sena, JDS, and RLD winning 2 seats, and Apna Dal, HAMS, AGP, AJSU and NCP(Ajit Faction) have won 1 seat each. This gives NDA a grand total of 292 seats.

The biggest allies of the BJP are TDP, JD(U), and Shiv Sena because if you do a simple math with these parties the BJP gets an additional 35 seats which helps them to cross the majority mark. But why the BJP needs to worry. Shiv Sena has always supported the BJP at least under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. All the other party leaders like Pawan Kalyan, HD Kumaraswamy, Chirag Paswan, Anupriya Patel, etc have shown public support to the BJP and PM Modi. The problem is not with them. The problem is with Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar.

Let's talk about CBN. Now, if you see CBN's history, he started TDP with his father-in-law NTR. He played a very big role in creating the Third Front government in 1997. Bringing down the Vajpayee government in 1996 and convincing the Congress to give outside support. In 1998, he allied with the BJP and helped them to form the government with them. He openly supported Vajpayee as the Prime Minister and played a huge role in making him the Prime Minister in 1999. LK Advani once said that if CBN was not there, then NDA was not there. Even after losing the polls to the Congress nationwide and in Andhra Pradesh, he continued to be an ally of the BJP.

In 2013, when Narendra Modi was announced as the Prime Minister, he supported him as his developmental plans aligned with that of Modi. He also demanded special status for Andhra Pradesh. But when the BJP refused to give it, he left the NDA and joined the Congress to oust Modi. When he was decimated in the 2019 polls, everyone thought that TDP was done forever.

But CBN again joined the NDA in 2023. Together with BJP and Jana Sena, they defeated YSRCP in the 2024 Andhra Polls.

This is the history. Now BJP isn't much worried about Chandrababu Naidu going out of NDA. Let's analyze. Let's assume that he did walk out from the NDA. Where would he go? To INDI alliance where 28 parties are there? If he forms a government with them, then he will get little influence in the Union Cabinet. He would get relatively more if he remained in NDA. And when Andhra is still angry with the Congress on bifurcation, aligning with INDIA is not a wise decision. Plus, leaving the politics aside, CBN and Modi have always worked together to make good policies, and Modi always considered him as a partner. I would recommend you to see his interview with ANI as that gave an impressive opinion about him. His ideas are really good and he is of course a shrewd politician. So, the BJP may not worry about TDP leaving the alliance or the 16 seats.

Ahhh. Let us come to the spicy part and the man with whom you can say that drama in the government will definitely happen. The one and only dear "Palturam", CM Nitish Kumar.

I mean, Bro's track record of changing alliances is like people having mood swings. He has taken oath as the CM of Bihar 9 times. In 2000, Nitish Kumar became CM for the first time but remained as CM for 7 days. In 2005 and 2010, he took oath as the CM with the BJP. In 2015, he aligned with RJD and Congress. And in 2017, he again aligned with the BJP and took oath as CM. In 2020, he again became the CM. And then in 2022, he again became CM with the help of Congress, and in 2023, he returned to the BJP. And now he is continuing till 2025.

Bro changes his words also. In 2010, he said, "Even if I die I won't ally with Narendra Modi". And now he is saying he will never leave the NDA. So here is the real problem. If JDU leaves the NDA, then BJP will lose the 12 seats and will fall short of a majority.

So, nothing to predict. Let's wait and see what happens. But I will also tell you one thing. INDIA has won 232 seats. Even if they are successful in making TDP and JDU join, they will only get 28 seats more, which makes their total 260 seats, 12 short of the majority.

As of 9th June, the new cabinet has taken oath in the swearing-in ceremony. NDA 4.0 has started.

Let us look at the cabinet ministers.

I have the link that lists all the cabinet ministers here.

https://www.oneindia.com/india/cabinet-ministers-portfolios-check-who-got-which-ministry-in-modi-govt-3-0-3848813.html

11 government cabinets were given to the allies. Two to TDP, Two to JDU, One each to JDS, RLD, Shiv Sena, Apna Dal, HAM, RPI and LJP.  No cabinet berths to Jana Sena and NCP (Ajit). Both of them are waiting for when the BJP lists out the full cabinet.

They have been given important portfolios.

POLICIES THAT WE CAN EXPECT:

So, what are the big policies that we can expect from Modi 3.0? Remember, BJP is not as strong as in  2014 or 2019. So, you will not see any kind of fast decisions like Demonetization or controversial decisions like CAA, Article 370. 

BJP from its foundation has always pitched for three main agendas- Ram Mandir, Abrogation of Article 370, and Uniform Civil Code. Now that two of the three agendas are over, the BJP has no more issues that can garner votes.

The fact that it completed two agendas and thought people were going to vote for them backfired. Now they have to show performance to stay in the government. BJP always had the Hindutva as an edge against the Congress. But now that the agenda failed, it is a bit of a level-playing field. And since today's youth are not being attracted by caste politics, they will now only vote based on the party's performance.

This is a great era in politics as we are coming above religion and caste to discuss and debate policies.

Also, in the last 10 years, the BJP has given excuses and blamed the previous Congress governments for not performing well. But since Modi's tenure finished 10 years, it is going to be about examining his policies and not the others that has been done 60 years ago.

Having said all these things and the problems that are existing, the NDA cabinet is a pretty good team

Let me explain. 

For the people who don't know PM Modi actually holds the Department of Atomic Energy and Research which ISRO also comes under. With the support and funding from the government, ISRO could do magic like it did with Chandrayaan-3. Projects like Adithya L1, and Gaganyaan prove that the government at least not much but is definitely spending high money on research on space.

Defense Ministry still needs to be self-reliant in its weapons and ensure DRDO to make such weapons rather than importing from other countries. And of course, the National Security under the BJP has always been of top quality. 

The home ministry has successfully defeated the Naxal terrorism but still has to focus on resolving issues of states or between states. Like Manipur, Ladakh, Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute, TN-Karnataka River dispute etc.

Roads have tremendously improved under the NDA and we can see a lot of improvement in the coming 5 years. As far as foreign policy is concerned it is also in perfect shape.

The finance ministry could do better by cutting taxes on the Middle classes and also taxing the rich. Income inequality should be reduced. Inflation which was very well controlled by the BJP in 2016 must be done again. Private investments must be increased. And maybe just maybe the Rupee should go up. A lot of work for Nirmala Sitharaman this time.

A very much experienced leader like Shivaraj Singh Chauhan who is given the Ministry of Agriculture is expected very much to negotiate with the farmers and bring Punjab closer to India. Farmer protests though genuine have dragged some Khalistani Separatists. And also to reduce farmer suicides. So it is important to hold the portfolio. And from a farmer's family, if he is made the Minister, it is a positive step. Remember guys, 50% of India is still working in Agriculture.

ML Khattar again has a big portfolio in housing affairs. From the complaints the government gets from the PM Awas Yojana, he is given a big responsibility.

JP Nadda is given the Health portfolio. Again to make treatments cheaper and to build hospitals all over India irrespective of its geographical terrain is important.

Dharmendra Pradhan as the education minister, has a massive responsibility to execute the NEP 2020 and also convince states like TN to follow NEP. And he has to take action nationwide for the paper leak scams. Jayant Chaudhry of RLD who is given Minister of State is expected the same.

Ashwini Vaishnaw has done a tremendous job in making as many Vande Bharat trains as possible but also would expect him to modernize the existing railways. As India is being ready to be a semiconductor hub people like me who are aspiring to be Electronics Engineers would look regularly for developments.

Well, if I talk about allies, TDP's Chandrababu Naidu is known for his infrastructural developments, and bringing companies like Microsoft to India can boost the employment rate. TDP being in the Union Government is a blessing in disguise for us and the ease of doing business can increase in states like Kerala too. We hope for it. 

Also, TDP has chosen K Ram Mohan Naidu to head the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He is the youngest minister in the Modi cabinet. There are a lot of expectations from the 26-year-old to develop aviation in India.

Nitish Kumar apart from his political turncoat has also transformed Bihar into a developing state. Building schools and being at the grassroots is always his policy. He also asked the BJP to review the Agniveer scheme again which is a move in the positive direction.

Rajiv Ranjan Chaudhry is made the minister of fisheries, animal husbandry, and Jal Shakti. He is expected to provide clean water to all the people especially receiving videos of hostels getting contaminated water.

JDS supremo HD Kumaraswamy is given the Ministry of Steel, giving a big responsibility to make the loss-making Steel Industries and Heavy Industries. If privatization happens, then it might be the biggest victory of the NDA.

Chirag Paswan becomes one of the youngest ministers in the cabinet to hold the position of Food Processing and I really hope packaged foods are checked and sold in the market. A very important portfolio to hold.

Annapurna Devi of Jharkhand is holding the Women Empowerment and Child Development. Really hope she will perform very much better than Smriti Irani. Her ground-level connection with women and children in Jharkhand is applauding. Hope she can do it nationwide and I really hope she executes policy and not only speak and does nothing like the former.

Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM is given the portfolio of MSME and he has tons of work to do to empower small businesses.

Policies on Climate change are very much needed as we are sitting in a timebomb. Hope Bhupendra Yadav will do a great job.

Of course, Suresh Gopi in the tourism ministry is a good move. A lot of cultural sites must be promoted and we expect that with his popularity he can actually achieve it.

 And L Murugan should seriously check the quality of news by Media as he is in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Hardeep Singh Puri is given the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The minister should try to increase the air quality of cities.

These are some out of the 75 ministers who have taken oath. More coming on their way.

It is important to work as a coalition and this team is a good team with a combination of experienced, well-performing young, and dynamic ministers. You and me have the responsibility to examine and check the work and performance of these ministers.

Policies need not necessarily come in a big, grand manner. There can be policies which might not be controversial. So government must focus on small policies. Remember small things make big changes.

Let's see how Modi 3.0 or NDA 4.0 performs from 2024 to 2029.

Good Luck to them.

Thank you for reading. Do tell me in the comments section what are you expecting from the government. Part 4 coming up. Stay tuned.