INDIA bloc meeting: Mamata and Kejriwal propose Kharge as PM face; ‘let’s win first’, says Congress chief

PTI, Dec 19, 2023, 8:16 PM IST

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday proposed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial candidate of opposition bloc INDIA, MDMK leader Vaiko said after the meeting of the grouping.

However, the veteran Congress leader said it is important to win first and everything else can be decided later.

Significantly, while Vaiko said Kharge’s name was proposed by Banerjee and Kejriwal, other leaders, on the condition of anonymity, maintained that there was no final decision on the issue during the meeting.

After his name was proposed as a candidate to become the country’s first Dalit prime minister at a meeting attended by 28 opposition leaders here, Kharge said, ”I work for the downtrodden. Let’s win first, then we will see. I don’t seek anything.”

”First we have to win and get a majority, then MPs will decide democratically,” Kharge when asked if he could be the PM candidate for the opposition alliance.

Banerjee after her arrival in the national capital on Monday, had told reporters that any decision on the prime ministerial face of the alliance will be taken after the election.

”When so many political parties are together, it is a democracy, with different states, different views and different opinions, but ultimately INDIA is a platform where we are fighting together,” said Banerjee.

”The BJP doesn’t have any allies. The NDA is gone. We are not like that. It will be better, after the elections, we have to see the results, and then announce the PM candidate. All parties will decide that,” she had said.

”You can decide how a party can do better for the people and motherland. You have to give priority to the people of India. What is going on right now is autocracy, which is not desired by anyone,” she said.