As parties take their positions for 2024, the ones absent from both Bengaluru and Delhi

Dormant till very recently, the NDA too has stirred alive, with as many as 38 parties — some of them the BJP’s small partners in the Northeast — coming together for coordination talks Tuesday.

That means that for now, 64 parties are under the INDIA or NDA umbrella. But there are some major parties that have stayed away, either due to the politics at play in their states, their equations with specific parties, or their desire to come across as neutral.

The list of such parties below:

Janata Dal (Secular)

The Karnataka-based JD(S) has previously been part of alliances with the Congress and BJP. But it was nowhere in the picture on Tuesday.

Ideologically, the JD(S) finds itself closer to the Congress and the Left. The party also enjoys support among Muslims, and is considered to lack any synchrony with the BJP.

However, in 2006, the JD(S) had briefly formed a coalition with the BJP to come to power in Karnataka. Following the recent loss in the 2023 Karnataka polls — where Muslims largely voted for the Congress — the party is said to be looking at a full-fledged alliance with the BJP.

Another factor is key: The Congress is the JD(S)’s main rival in its strongholds in south Karnataka. Perhaps this could fuel the perception that it was more inclined towards the NDA.

Former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy indicated this week that it was too premature to decide who the JD(S) would ally with. As per sources, it may ultimately go with the party that has the best chance of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Shiromani Akali Dal

Despite rumours of it being wooed back by the BJP, the SAD on Tuesday stayed away from the NDA meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It had decided to not be a part of the Opposition meeting either.

Party sources told The Indian Express that the SAD was staying away from the Opposition meeting because it does not want to be sharing stage with its arch rivals in Punjab — the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Congress.

The reason behind not being at the NDA meeting is more complex. The Akali Dal severed ties with the BJP in September 2020 over the now-repealed three farm laws. For the time being, chances of it partnering back with the BJP seem hazy.

The BJP has said that it would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2024 alone. The Akali Dal has also ruled out any alliance publicly.

Bahujan Samaj Party

The Mayawati-led party has never been a party of tthe NDA, and is even critical of the BJP, but that does not indicate that it is on the Opposition’s side.

Ever since efforts to cobble together a united Opposition began, the BSP has said it is not going to be part of either side, and did not get an invite.

Biju Janata Dal

For the BJD, which has been in power in Odisha for 25 years, “equidistance” and “neutrality” are important, said senior BJD leader and party spokesperson Prasanna Acharya. “Being a regional party, we have our own policies. Most of the time, our policies are guided by the interests of Odisha. In Parliament and outside, we extend issue-based support.”

In the past, Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik’s bond with PM Modi has been on display, with support to the BJP government’s policies. In 2019, the BJD had spared a Rajya Sabha seat for the BJP, which had fielded bureaucrat-turned-politician Ashwini Vaishnaw.

But the BJP is now the BJD’s chief opponent in Odisha, and that will stop Patnaik from deciding any way in a hurry.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi

The absence of the BRS, led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, at the Opposition meeting is not surprising.

Telangana heads to elections this year and the Congress is its principal rival. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also previously made it clear that KCR was not going to be a part of the meeting, accusing it of being the BJP’s “B team”.

The BJP too is strategising to make inroads in Telangana through its outreach programmes. At a recent rally, Modi accused KCR of indulging in corruption and promoting his family.

KCR has himself taken a strong stand against the BJP’s Central policies, accusing it of undermining federalism,

Then there are the BRS’s own national ambitions, with the messaging that it wants to provide a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative.

YSRCP

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP has maintained some distance from the BJP at the state level, even as it remains cordial with the ruling party at the Centre. Its support to the BJP’s policies might have perhaps signalled that it would be on the NDA’s side, but that does not seem to be the case.

As far as the Opposition’s meeting is concerned, Jagan’s biggest bug bear would be the Congress. He had quit the party in November 2010, after it refused to give him the CM post after the death of his father and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekara Reddy.

With these dynamics underway, both the meetings did not extend an invitation to the YSRCP.

Indian National Lok Dal

The INLD was a member of the NDA from 1998 till 2004. It again joined the NDA in 2009, but could not win any seat in the Lok Sabha from its homeground of Haryana.

On Tuesday, the Jannayak Janata Party, an offshoot of the INLD and an ally of the BJP in the state government, was among the parties present at the NDA meeting.

The INLD, on the other hand, claims to be trying to create a “third front” against the BJP and Congress in Haryana.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen

The AIMIM led by Asaduddin Owaisi was another absentee from both the meetings.

Owaisi is the sole MP of the party and it has seven MLAs –all from Hyderabad– in the Telangana Assembly. Outside Telangana, it has been trying its luck in states such as Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, in pockets with large Muslim population. While the AIMIM was a Congress ally earlier, it has moved towards the BRS since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The party has previously hit out at both the BJP and Congress.

While the Congress now keeps calling the AIMIM a B party of the BJP, helping it “polarise votes”, the BJP’s doors are closed to it for obvious reasons.

All India United Democratic Front

An invitation to the NDA meeting for the AIUDF could never be on the horizon, with the party representing largely the Muslim community in Assam a known critic of the BJP and its policies.

However, the AIUDF was not invited to the Opposition meeting either. This could be because of its relationship with the Congress. The two parties contested the 2021 Assam Assembly elections together, but the relationship has been strained since then.

Earlier this year, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh denounced AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal as a “mouthpiece of the BJP”, saying he “has nothing whatsoever to do with the UPA (United Progressive Alliance)”.

With ENS inputs