The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) met here on Monday to express its resolve to register another victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the NDA has passed a resolution to expand its strength. The recent Assembly election results have endorsed Modi’s policies and leadership, they added.

Thirty-three members of the ruling alliance met under the chairmanship of the PM as a show of strength ahead of elections to the posts of President and Vice-President. Leaders of 31 BJP allies, including the new friends it has won over in Goa and North-East States, attended the meeting after its president Amit Shah reached out to them.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who has often criticised the BJP, and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, and former Punjab CM and Akali stalwart Parkash Singh Badal also participated in the meeting.

BJP sources said the meeting will be a show of strength as well as an exercise in taking stock of the national political scene. It assumes significance as the BJP will need the support of its allies to push a candidate of its choice for the President’s elections due in July.

The sources, however, insisted that this is not on the agenda of the meeting.

This is only the second meeting of top NDA leaders since the alliance stormed to power in 2014 and could result in smoothing over any differences between the BJP and many of its small allies, some of whom have often complained about lack of communication.

Also among the attendees were the BJP’s allies from Bihar, including Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi, from Uttar Pradesh, including Union Minister Anupriya Patel and Om Rajbhar, and representatives from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other States.

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