Where you sit matters, especially in politics. So, when Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary with two MPs was not spotted on the dais at the NDA parliamentary meeting on Friday, it led to much controversy and a social media trending debate.
Buoyed by a good Lok Sabha electoral performance in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party jumped in, asking why the RLD president was missing from the stage and seen sitting among other MPs. The SP pointed a finger at the Bharatiya Janata Party. “The BJP’s hatred for the Jat community and the false respect towards late Chaudhary Charan Singh and Chaudhary Ajit Singh has been exposed. If Jayant Chaudhary is truly a farmer-friendly leader, he should distance himself from the NDA and raise his voice against the BJP for the interest of farmers. He should not trade his self-respect and farmer interests for small and close temptations with the BJP,” it said.
The RLD, however, dismissed it as a small issue. The party had walked out of an alliance with the Congress and SP just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and joined hands with the BJP.
Government and Parliament sources issued a clarification. There was a pecking order of the seating, they said.
- N Chandrababu Naidu: former CM. Going to be CM
- Pawan Kalyan: Going to be deputy CM
- Anupriya Patel: Incumbent union minister
- Jitan Ram Manjhi: Former CM of Bihar
- Chirag Paswan: With 5 MPs (third biggest constituent of NDA)
- HD Kumaraswamy: Former CM of Karnataka
All other NDA constituents like Jayant Chaudahry of RLD, chief ministers, and deputy CMs were seated in the Central Hall of Parliament, said the sources.
The fact that PM Narendra Modi was flanked by Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar over two days, including during the NDA meeting has also been noticed. It’s an effort to show the bonhomie between the three to counter the INDIA front narrative that the government about to be formed may not survive the tugs of coalition politics, said the sources.
With a belligerent opposition, every issue is an issue to take on the government. And where Jayant Chaudhary sat is not an issue that the opposition will allow to be forgotten in a hurry.
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