Mamata Banerjee to lead INDIA bloc? Lalu Prasad Yadav extends support to TMC chief– ’Congress’ objection means nothing’
Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD chief, said that Mamata Banerjee should lead the opposition INDIA bloc, dismissing Congress's objections as irrelevant.
RJD chief and former Bihar chief minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday extended support to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to take a leadership role in the opposition INDIA bloc.
“Congress's objection means nothing. We will support Mamata... Mamata Banerjee should be given the leadership (of the INDIA bloc),” Yadav told news agency ANI on December 10.
Lalu's support for the West Bengal Chief Minister comes two days after the Trinamool Congress raised the pitch on the demand to make her the leader of the INDIA bloc. Party MP Kirti Azad said she is the ‘most suitable’ for the job as she is the only leader who has repeatedly defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in her state – West Bengal.
Last week, Banerjee expressed interest in running the INDIA bloc — with many key leaders in the Opposition bloc backing her as a ‘capable’ leader.
“I had formed the INDIA bloc, now it is up to those leading the front to manage it. If they can't run the show, what can I do? I would just say that everyone needs to be taken along…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,” the West Bengal Chief Minister told News 18 Bangla on Friday, December 6.
Questions have been raised about the future of the Opposition group in recent weeks following a string of debilitating electoral losses.
Many leaders of the grouping appeared to agree to hand over the leadership role to the WB CM. Some, however, indicated that a decision would be taken later.
“Yes, certainly. She is a prominent leader of this nation... she has that capability. The elected leaders she sent to Parliament are responsible, dutiful, and well-aware people. Therefore, she has the right to say so,” said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut also agreed. “We know this opinion of Mamata ji. We also want her to be a major partner of the INDIA alliance. Whether it is Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal or Shiv Sena, we are all together. We will soon go to talk to Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata…Mamata didi is very close to us. She is a good leader,” Raut said.
This is not the first time that Lalu has extended support to Banerjee. In one of the meetings of the INDIA bloc held in Bengaluru in 2023, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Yadav had called out what he called the incessant criticism of Mamata Banerjee by Left and Congress leaders in West Bengal.
The RJD leader, according to a report in NDTV, referred to remarks by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a fierce critic of Mamata Banerjee, and said such comments had to be avoided at all costs for the sake of opposition unity.
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Business NewsPoliticsMamata Banerjee to lead INDIA bloc? Lalu Prasad Yadav extends support to TMC chief– ’Congress’ objection means nothing’
First Published:10 Dec 2024, 10:27 AM IST
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