A marathon meeting of senior BJP leaders was held at the residence of party chief JP Nadda to discuss the Cabinet formation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, sources said.

During the meeting, it is learnt that the top BJP leaders also discussed the role of alliance partners in the new cabinet.

The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, and other senior leaders.

This meeting came a day ahead of the crucial NDA meeting.

There are speculations about the BJP falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha as the NDA allies, particularly coalition politics veterans, JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu, reportedly started bargaining hard for crucial ministries at the Centre.

The sources said hectic negotiations are on at the moment.

The NDA has crossed the majority mark bagging 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. As per the results announced by the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, and along with its allies, the BJP-led NDA stood at 293 seats.

The TDP and the JD-U are key constituents of the NDA with 16 and 12 Lok Sabha seats, respectively. The Shiv Sena is also an important partner with seven seats.

Meanwhile, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President and Lok Sabha MP-elect from Hajipur Bihar Chirag Paswan responded to speculation about becoming a cabinet minister in the BJP-led NDA Government by clarifying that his goal was to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third term.

He also added that ministerial positions were not a priority for the Allies.

“My goal was clear, to make my prime minister the PM of the country for the third time. Today, the biggest reason for me to rejoice is that we are going to achieve this goal… Who becomes a part of the government and who doesn’t, who becomes a minister and who doesn’t is not the priority of any of the allies. I hear on media channels that he demanded this or demanded that – but nobody did. In the NDA meeting yesterday, we once again accepted the leadership of the PM,” he told a news agency.

TDP MP K Ram Mohan Naidu said on Wednesday that there has been no discussion with the BJP yet regarding portfolios in the ministry and party chief Chandrababu Naidu has emphasised making the NDA stronger as of now.

“There has been no discussion on it yet. Naidu ji says that the NDA has to be taken forward strongly,” the TDP leader said.

Twenty-one NDA leaders signed a letter to elect Prime Minister Narendra Modi as their leader during a key meeting of the alliance held at the latter’s official residence in the national capital on Wednesday.

The NDA is scheduled to hold a meeting of its newly-elected MPs on Friday at the Central Hall of the Parliament, sources said.

As per the sources, discussions would be held on government formation.