From the Urdu Press: ‘Modi govt 3.0 faces coalition tightrope’; ‘Rahul Gandhi must step up to LoP role’

Taking charge for the third term, the Narendra Modi-led government has signalled continuity in its functioning rather than opting for a reboot. And yet, a record high of a 72-member Union ministry was sworn in to launch its new innings, which reflected the imperatives of a coalition regime. Flagging these takeaways while mapping the changes in the wake of a remarkable poll outcome, the Urdu dailies have also kept their eyes on the churn it has set off in the Opposition camp.

URDU TIMES

Referring to the allocation of portfolios to the ministers of the new Modi-led NDA government, the Mumbai-based Urdu Times, in its editorial on June 11, points out that the BJP has retained critical portfolios like Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs for its leaders, handing their charge to Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, respectively, who had handled the same in the previous Modi ministry too. “On the face of it, Modi’s new Cabinet does not reflect any major change from his previous ministry. But the question is, has nothing really changed in the new BJP dispensation?” asks the edit.

With the Modi government now depending critically on its key allies like the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP and Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) for its survival after the Lok Sabha poll results saw the BJP with 240 seats falling short of the simple majority mark of 272, the daily says it would be difficult for the Modi dispensation to work “unilaterally” like its previous two regimes over the last decade. “Chandrababu’s son Nara Lokesh Naidu has indicated that it is an NDA government whose decisions will be taken in light of mutual consultations. For instance, with regard to the provision of reservation for backward Muslims in Andhra