The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut criticized the BJP leadership on June 5, calling it autocratic and urging TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar to consider whether they want to ally with an autocrat.
Speaking to reporters, Raut said his party would support Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he decided to lead the INDIA bloc government and become the prime ministerial candidate. The INDIA bloc leaders are scheduled to meet in New Delhi to discuss their next steps.
Raut asserted that Prime Minister Modi should acknowledge his moral defeat, as the BJP did not secure a majority to form the government. He declared, “Modi ji is not forming a government for the third time.”
“Chandrababu and Nitish Kumar have to decide whether they want to go with an autocrat and work in a democratic system. I don’t think they will go with an autocrat,” Raut remarked.
According to the Lok Sabha election results, the BJP won 240 seats, falling 32 seats short of an absolute majority. With the support of key allies N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) surpassed the halfway mark needed to form the government.