BJP-led NDA to have panel of spokespersons that include alliance partners

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a suggestion to this effect in the meeting of NDA MPs during the recent session of Parliament.

New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance is unlikely to have a Convenor, highly-placed sources in the BJP have said. Instead, the Alliance will have a panel of spokespersons who will be trained to speak in one voice.

Sources in the BJP said that the Alliance will have a panel of spokespersons who will be appointed before the Budget Session of Parliament begins on July 22. The panel will undergo an orientation session of sorts to acquaint them with the common agenda of the Alliance, as well as equip them with resources etc.

In the 17th Lok Sabha, too, the NDA had a similar panel of spokespersons, but there was hardly any coordination among them. But just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, an orientation session of the spokespersons was held.

The position of the Convenor of the NDA has remained vacant since 2018, when Telugu Desam Party supremo Chandrababu Naidu had then walked out of the Alliance. He had served as Convenor between 2013 to 2018.

Both TDP and Janata Dal (United) have been in the NDA since the Vajpayee era, with both Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar having served as convenor of the NDA at different time periods before Modi brought back the NDA to power in 2014.

While there was buzz that both parties had demanded the position after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, neither party ever confirmed the rumours.

With the changed dynamics among the alliance, as the BJP stopped short of a majority in the Lok Sabha and now has to depend on the TDP and the JD(U) to be in power, there was speculation that the position will not remain vacant.

There is also no word on whether the NDA will have a coordination committee, a panel of senior members of all the constituent parties. The BJP prefers to reach out to the NDA parties when the need arises.