'NDA government formed by mistake, can fall...': Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, see what NDA allies said

Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress chief, claimed that the NDA government has been 'formed by mistake' and its fall is imminent.

"NDA government has been formed by mistake. Modi ji doesn't have the mandate. It's a minority government. This government can fall anytime," Kharge said in Bengaluru on June 14.

"We would like it to continue, let it be good for the country," he said, adding "We should work together to strengthen the country. But our Prime Minister is habitual of not letting something go on well to continue. But we will cooperate towards strengthening the country."

His remarks come days after there was speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was struggling to keep its alliances.

Kharge's claims at PM Modi and the coalition government got a swift response from NDA allies, who asked him to provide scorecards of PMs of Congress-led governments.

JD(U) dug into the history of Congress-led coalition governments, questioning Kharge's criticism by referring the tenures of former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Dr Manmohan Singh. 

Former Bihar IPRD minister and JDU MLC Neeraj Kumar questioned Kharge’s intellect and asked him the scorecards of the Congress-led governments of PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.

He reminded him that in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, Congress to had similar number of seats as compared to the BJP's current tally. Despite not achieving a majority, Congress formed a minority government under Narasimha Rao. Rao's strategic political maneuvers eventually strengthened his government's position, turning it into a majority within two years.

Reacting to Kharge's remark on the NDA govt, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale says, "NDA has a clear majority. We have won 292 Lok Sabha seats...I advise Mallikarjun Kharge to play the role of opposition...". Athawale is president of Republican Party of India (A), and a NDA coalition ally.

"All I would say is that by mistake they have got some strength...," Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said. Manjhi is founding president of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), which is a NDA partner at the Centre.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP bagged a total of 240 seats, falling short of the majority mark of 272, and the party relied on its allies to form the government.

The four allies whose support helped the BJP form the government for a record third term are N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, which has won 16 seats, Nitish Kumar's JDU (12), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena (7) and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (5).