New Delhi: BJP leader Agnimitra Paul has dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The West Bengal leader urged Ms Banerjee to stand against PM Modi from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
"Why doesn't Mamata Banerjee contest from Varanasi? If Mamata Banerjee has the courage to compete in place of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, then she should do that. You want to become Prime Minister, right? Then she should contest against our Prime Minister," Agnimitra Paul told news agency ANI.
Ms Paul's reaction came days after the Bengal Chief Minister urged the INDIA bloc to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 polls. Trinamool Congress has pitched that Mamata Banerjee should be the face of the Opposition alliance.
Trinamool is eager to expedite seat-sharing talks, establish a collective narrative, and finalise the manifesto to present a credible challenge against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Sources say Mamata Banerjee is also open to seat-sharing talks with the Congress amidst murmurs that some Congress leaders in the state were pushing for a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left – an exercise that hasn't yielded results in the past with the Left and the Congress performing abysmally in 2019. This time with the INDIA alliance taking shape and the CPI(M) opting out of any alliance in the state with the TMC, the Congress, which expects a consolidation of Muslim votes, is hoping to get more seats to contest in Bengal.