Amit Shah formally invites Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) to join NDA

Agencies

August 12, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 12: BJP president Amit Shah has invited Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar to join the ruling NDA, following the latter's alliance with the saffron party in the state to form a new government.

"I met JD(U) president Nitish Kumar at my residence yesterday. I invited JD(U) to join the NDA," Shah said in a tweet on Saturday.

The Bihar-based party is expected to endorse a proposal to join the NDA in its national executive meeting in Patna on August 19, after which it is likely to join the Narendra Modi cabinet.

JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “On August 19, we will take a formal decision to join NDA and decision regarding Nitish Kumar becoming the national convener of NDA will be taken at the national executive meet of JD(U) in Patna.”

Asked if the party would join the Modi cabinet, a JD(U) leader said such a decision would be "natural".

"When we are together in government in Bihar, it is only natural that our party joins the Union government," he said.

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‘This is how it began in Gujarat’: Modi outlines BJP’s political ambitions in Kerala

News Network

January 23,2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, January 23, indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming to expand its political footprint in Kerala ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled in the coming months.

Speaking at a BJP-organised public meeting, Modi drew parallels between the party’s early electoral gains in Gujarat and its recent victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. The civic body win, which ended decades of Left control, was cited by the Prime Minister as a possible starting point for the party’s broader ambitions in the state.

Recalling BJP’s political trajectory in Gujarat, Modi said the party was largely insignificant before 1987 and received little media attention. He pointed out that the BJP’s first major breakthrough came with its victory in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation that year.

“Just as our journey in Gujarat began with one city, Kerala’s journey has also started with a single city,” Modi said, suggesting that the party’s municipal-level success could translate into wider electoral acceptance.

The Prime Minister alleged that successive governments led by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) had failed to adequately develop Thiruvananthapuram. He accused both fronts of corruption and neglect, claiming that basic infrastructure and facilities were denied to the capital city for decades.

According to Modi, the BJP’s control of the civic body represents a shift driven by public dissatisfaction with the existing political alternatives. He asserted that the BJP administration in Thiruvananthapuram had begun working towards development, though no specific details or timelines were outlined.

Addressing the gathering at Putharikandam Maidan, Modi said the BJP intended to project Thiruvananthapuram as a “model city,” reiterating his party’s commitment to governance-led change.

The Prime Minister’s visit to Kerala also included the inauguration of several development projects and the flagging off of new train services, as the BJP intensifies its political outreach in the poll-bound state.

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