After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee has given a call for Opposition unity to unseat the BJP at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Significantly, Mamata who has so far been batting for a non-Congress front, this time called for bringing together her counterparts like Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren, as well as Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav and then added “all other parties.”
Banerjee was addressing a party programme in Kolkata. She also said that the BJP would face a rout because of its arrogance and the people’s anger.
Of late, Mamata was being viewed with suspicion in the Opposition ranks after she praised the RSS and avoided meeting any Opposition leader during her visit to Delhi last month.
“I, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren and many others ... like Akhilesh Yadav will come together in 2024. All Opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be ‘Khela Hobe’ in 2024.”
Khela Hobe (a game is ahead) was the slogan she successfully used against the BJP to defeat it comprehensively in last year’s Assembly elections.
“The BJP often brags about getting 300 seats … but that arrogance will turn into being its nemesis … all the opposition leaders will join hands to defeat this government,” Banerjee said.