NDA parliamentary party to meet on August 5, speculation mounts

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a meeting of the ruling NDA MPs tomorrow, on August 5, sparking intense speculation about the intentions of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led dispensation. The last NDA parliamentary party meeting was held on July 2, 2024, after Modi was sworn in as the leader of the NDA alliance and Prime Minister for the third consecutive term.

A notice from BJP today stated, “A meeting of the NDA Parliamentary party will be held at 9.30 am on Tuesday, August 5, in GMC Balayogi Auditorium of Parliamentary Library Building. All NDA members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are requested to attend.”

The meeting on August 5 is being seen as significant in political circles given the importance of the date in PM Modi’s scheme of things. It was on August 5, 2019, that the BJP-led government abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Then, on August 5, 2020, PM Modi led the ground-breaking ceremony at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Thus, the fulfilment of two key and long-standing ideological promises of the BJP occurred on August 5.

Speculation about the government planning something big has gained further ground after PM Modi met President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday, followed by a call from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Murmu. Today, in Parliament House, a series of ministerial meetings were underway. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Modi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met ministers JP Nadda, Piyush Goyal, and Kiren Rijiju. Later, Home Secretary Govind Mohan and NSA Ajit Doval met Shah.