Coalitions of ‘negativity’ never successful: Modi

The 25-year-old National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is a “coalition of contributions and not compulsion,” with development being its main agenda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, drawing a line between the NDA and the new Opposition alliance, INDIA, announced in Bengaluru on the same day.

The Prime Minister was addressing the leaders of 38 parties who had gathered for a meeting of the BJP-led NDA in New Delhi. He thanked the NDA leaders for reposing faith in him, and said he “can make mistakes but I will not do anything out of ill intention.”

The meeting, organised as the alliance completes 25 years (with several changes in the number of constituents), saw Mr. Modi pay homage to NDA founding members Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Balasaheb Thackeray, Parkash Singh Badal, George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav.

He said it was “heartening to see their true heirs” present in the meeting, a direct reference to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal (Dhindsa).

Both the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal have witnessed splits, with Mr. Shinde and Mr. Dhindsa joining the NDA.

Mr. Modi said coalitions that start with negativity were never successful, attesting the endurance of the NDA to the fact that it was formed in 1998 with a positive agenda of governance and stability. He said stability “brings with it the strength to make decisions that span epochs and bring glory”.