INDIA bloc PM candidate to be decided after elections — Mamata

NEW DELHI — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate will be decided after the 2024 general elections, expressing confidence that the alliance will iron out all issues including over seat-sharing and defeat the BJP.

She also dismissed suggestions that the alliance has lost time in putting things in order, saying “it is better late than never”. She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her TMC, Congress and the Left.

“The BJP is not strong, we are weak. We need to work together to overcome it,” Banerjee told reporters here in reply to a question on the BJP’s rising influence, especially in the Hindi belt.

She also said she doesn’t discriminate between the Hindi belt and other regions.

On the suspension on opposition MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Banerjee said it shows the BJP is afraid. “Do you think they (the BJP) became so arrogant because they won two states…They’re afraid so they suspended”.

“Even with such majority, they’re scared… The voice of people has been choked. They can suspend the whole House. They have no moral ground to run the House… It is mockery of democracy,” she said.

The TMC boss asserted her full support to expelled party MP Mahua Moitra, and said

the parliamentary party will decide on her Krishnanagar seat.

She also made light of the BJP’s assertion that PM Modi will return for a third term, saying 2024 is not a done deal.