New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday admitted that she has proposed the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the Prime Ministerial candidate from the INDIA bloc alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
"Yes, I have proposed the name of Mallikarjun Kharge ji. And I am happy that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal supported my proposal," said Mamata Banerjee. During the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc opposition alliance in New Delhi on Tuesday, Mamata proposed Kharge's name, although there was no further discussion over the issue in the meeting.
"Let us win in the election first. We want more MPs to form the government. After winning the election, we can think over the issue of the Prime Minister. We will see which party gets how many seats," said Kharge after the meeting on Tuesday. According to the sources, Mamata's proposal to name Kharge as the face of the Prime Minister upset Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.
"I am not aware of the reaction of Lalu ji and Nitish ji over my proposal for naming Kharge ji as the face of the Prime Minister," said Banerjee. The JD (U) and RJD in Bihar were of the view that a senior politician who has also served as Chief Minister of Bihar for several terms should be the face of the Prime Minister. Both parties were in favour of naming Nitish Kumar as the Prime Ministerial candidate.
When this correspondent contacted Mohua Majhi, a Rajya Sabha MP representing Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), she denied having such information. "As far as I know, nothing of that sort happened in the meeting. In fact, after the meeting, all the leaders left together," Majhi who was also present in the meeting said.
Sources further said that Banerjee also proposed the name of Congress general secretary Priyanka Bhadra to fight against Modi in the coming Lok Sabha election. The proposal from Mamata, according to the sources, was floated in front of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge when the former had a one-to-one meeting with the two Congress leaders on Tuesday. However, when asked Mamata Banerjee refused to divulge anything. "Why should I give all the information to you (Media)," said Banerjee. The West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Parliament House this morning and highlighted several issues related to West Bengal.
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