Need to counter Cong on Ambedkar, BJP tells its allies at NDA meeting

Members of the ruling NDA met Wednesday at the New Delhi residence of BJP president and Union Minister JP Nadda to discuss ways to put up a united front to counter the Opposition narrative on the issue of the Constitution and Dr B R Ambedkar.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, December 25

The TDP, a key partner of the BJP, underlined the need for better NDA coordination on the lines of what the INDIA bloc has been doing to attack the government and the ruling alliance, especially after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark in Rajya Sabha which the Congress claimed was an "insult" of Ambedkar.

Hours after paying tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 100th birth anniversary, NDA leaders met at Nadda's house for almost an hour. Sources said the leaders discussed the Opposition onslaught against the BJP over Shah's remark, caste census and social justice politics. Shah was said to have told the leaders, including TDP leader and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, that the Congress was trying to create "false narratives".

The TDP, sources said, was also of the view that the Opposition was peddling a "false narrative". The message was clear: the NDA will have to counter the Opposition narrative unitedly, and there was need for coordination among the partners.