NDA allies commend Modi’s leadership

Say government has strengthened the federal structure and given a clean and honest administration

Coming together: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray greets PM Narendra Modi, as Home Minister Rajnath Singh looks on, at an NDA meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

The 33 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, which met here on Monday, passed a resolution endorsing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership as “firm and decisive” going as far as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mr. Modi promised them that he would continue to work for the basic principles of welfare and development.

“I will continue to work on our government’s principles of development and welfare and will not allow anything to shake the confidence placed in me,” Mr. Modi said at the end of a marathon five-hour meeting.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley briefed the media after the dinner meeting attended by Prime Minister Modi and leaders of alliance parties including N. Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Mr. Jaitley said, “The resolution has many features, chief among them being an appreciation of the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and the government’s pro-poor policies.”

“The resolution notes that the government came to power at a difficult economic period, but has strengthened the federal structure, and given a clean and honest government,” Mr. Jaitley said. This impression of popular support to Mr. Modi has been strengthened, he added, by the NDA’s performance in the recently concluded Assembly polls in five States.

NDA’s growth

Mr. Jaitley and Mr. Naidu said that this was a meeting held to acknowledge the growth of the NDA, with two parties joining it in Goa lately and partners from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala.

Shiv Sena sources told The Hindu that Mr. Thackeray had a pull-aside meeting with his BJP counterpart, Amit Shah. Mr. Jaitley however said, “Such meetings between leaders keep happening.”