NEW DELHI: Having spent the last decade like an all-powerful CEO, running the govt at the Centre on his own, all eyes are now on Narendra Modi, who is set to start his third consecutive term as PM, leading the NDA coalition with BJP missing out on getting a majority, unlike 2014 and 2019.The question uppermost on many minds is does he have in him the temperament; in other words, the flexibility and the ability to take disparate elements along?While Modi may not have been dependent on allies during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister or in his first two terms as PM, he is no stranger to coalition politics.His party colleagues point out that in the mid-1990 as the BJP’s organisational general secretary, the all-powerful post in the saffron party, he played a crucial role in stitching together alliances in the north, including with the Shiromani Akali Dal, which won the mandate in Punjab in 1997. Besides, it was during his time as in-charge of Haryana that BJP worked with Bansi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala in the state. Even in J&K, Modi had worked with the Abdullahs of the National Conference, which was also part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee govt with Omar being a minister.As Vajpayee led the coordination, Modi as general secretary, was also involved in coordinating with allies, including George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee and Balasaheb Thackeray, among others.When Modi was with Gujarat BJP in 1989, the BJP-Janata Dal alliance won 23 of the 26 seats in the state with the latter losing in three contests with Congress. A year later, it swept to power in the assembly polls.Party sources said that Modi’s early training of working with people across the political spectrum during Emergency, something that he mentioned in a blog. “For youngsters like me, the Emergency gave a wonderful opportunity to work with a wide spectrum of leaders and organisations that were fighting for the same goal. It enabled us to work beyond institutions we had been brought up with.”While Modi may have led a majority govt at the Centre, BJP did have crucial alliances at the state level, requiring him to work closely with the allies. In fact, he is seen to have shown great flexibility when BJP and PDP put together an alliance in J&K and Modi worked closely with Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.His party colleagues said that despite the attacks from Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu in the past, Modi has never let it come in the way of working with them.The same skills are going to be on display and may even be tested on occasions.
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