West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday indicated that she was willing to lead the Opposition INDIA bloc if given the opportunity.
The Trinamool Congress chief, in an interview to News18 Bangla, said she could handle the dual responsibilities of being the chief minister and leading the coalition.
“I had formed the INDIA bloc, now it is up to those leading the front to manage it,” she said, according to PTI. “If they can't run the show, what can I do? I would just say that everyone needs to be taken along.”
To a question on why she could not take charge of the alliance, Banerjee said: “If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning. I don't want to go outside West Bengal, but I can run it from here.”
On Saturday, Sharad Pawar, the chief of his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, said Banerjee was capable of leading the coalition, ANI reported.
“The elected leaders she sent to Parliament are responsible, dutiful and well-aware people,” he said. “Therefore, she has the right to say so.”
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut MP also said that his party wants Banerjee to be a “major partner” of the INDIA bloc.
“Whether it is Mamata Banerjee, [Aam Aadmi Party chief] Arvind Kejriwal, or Shiv Sena, we are all together,” Raut said. “We will soon go to talk to Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.”
However, Amit Malviya, the chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s social media cell, remarked that Banerjee appeared to be “looking for a job post 2026”, referring to the year when the next Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in West Bengal.
“What I.N.D.I Alliance leadership is she talking about?” Malviya asked. “The coalition is all but dead.”
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, is an Opposition bloc of over 25 parties formed in July 2023 to put a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The alliance won 234 seats in this year’s Lok Sabha election. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won the election, but secured a narrower majority than predicted by most pollsters.
The coalition won the Jharkhand Assembly election last month. In October, an alliance of the National Conference and Congress, both members of the INDIA alliance, won the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election.
However, in recent months, the coalition suffered setbacks in the form of defeats in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Apart from electoral defeats, the alliance has also witnessed tensions on other fronts in recent days.
In Maharashtra, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday announced its decision to withdraw from the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, objecting to a newspaper advertisement published by the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) praising the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
On December 1, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said his outfit would not ally with any other party during the upcoming Delhi Assembly election.
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