Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu emerge as kingmakers as BJP short of majority

BJP's tall claims of 'Abki baar 400 paar' fell flat as it failed to secure a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party is now at the mercy of its NDA allies to form the government at the Centre.

In this scenario, two key NDA allies have assumed a crucial role - JDU president Nitish Kumar and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. Together their parties account for around 30 seats, apparently making them kingmakers.

Interestingly, Nitish Kumar was one of the founders of the opposition INDIA alliance. In the past, he had even made strong statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had rejected any possibility of joining hands with the BJP.

However, weeks before the elections, the Bihar Chief Minister switched sides, abandoning the INDIA bloc. JDU fought on 16 seats, out of which it is set to win around 12. If Kumar makes a U-turn again, it would be a major setback to the BJP.

A bigger blow, whoever, could be a flip by Chandrababu Naidu, whose party appears to be winning around 16 seats.

In 2014, TDP had entered into an alliance with the BJP. That lasted till 2018, when TDP departed from the NDA over the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party even briefly allied with the Congress for the 2018 Telangana polls.

Naidu joined NDA again ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The move certainly helped his party which now holds key to the 18th Lok Sabha.

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