BJP president Nadda holds meeting with allies

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) BJP president J P Nadda on Friday held a meeting with his party's allies in what was described as a get-together to boost coordination among the constituents of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Sources said the NDA meeting will be held regularly to ensure smooth coordination in the ruling alliance and iron out any differences.

The interaction assumes significance as it came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for a Uniform Civil Code, an issue over which several allies are not on the same page with the BJP.

Some allies also do not share the BJP's enthusiasm for the proposed law to amend the Waqf Act, which was sent by Lok Sabha to a joint committee of Parliament for scrutiny.

All BJP allies were represented in the meeting, sources said, adding that Union ministers K Ram Mohan Naidu, H D Kumaraswamy, Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi represented the Telugu Desam Party, JD (Secular), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and HAM (Secular), while MP Sanjay Jha from the JD (United) was also part of the interaction.

Among other allies, Union ministers Anupriya Patel and Jayant Singh, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Riu were part of the meeting as well.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju, who holds the charge of the parliamentary affairs ministry and the minority affairs ministry, was also part of the meeting along with his Cabinet colleagues Bhupender Yadav, the sources said.

Modi has often stressed that it is a NDA government at the Centre and has called for coordination in the alliance over various issues. PTI KR ANB ANB