Mamata Banerjee puts up spirited claim to PM post

New Delhi: The one clear message that came out from West Bengal Mamata Banerjee’s mega Opposition rally on Saturday was that the Trinamul Congress chief was ready for the most coveted office in national politics —  the Prime Minister.

As Ms Banerjee led the charge with her slogan “Delhi Chalo”, she was flanked by virtually all top Opposition leaders. However, missing in action were Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BSP chief Mayawati, the other two most probable PM faces of the Opposition conglomerate she had managed to assemble on the dais.

Though both had sent senior leaders to represent their parties, their absence spoke out loud.

The more than 20 top Opposition leaders on the dais, which included stalwarts like NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and DMK’s M.K. Stalin, reiterated the oft repeated position that the prime ministerial face would be decided later and the one point agenda was now to defeat the Modi-led BJP government.

This along with the stand that any PM candidate would be decided post polls based on what each party brings to the table has been the cornerstone of Opposition agenda to fight the BJP juggernaut. This position, however, gives an edge to the Congress, which as of now is the only party with a national presence.

As a TDP MP succinctly puts it: “If we are talking about numbers then the maximum Lok Sabha seats Ms Banerjee can hope to win are all the 42 in West Bengal”.  

Another MP, this time from the Congress itself, who did not wish to be named told this newspaper: “What is sure is that we will not get a repeat 44 Lok Sabha seats in this election and  people should not forget that”.

While the Congress is confident of doing better and emerging at least as the single largest party in the Opposition block, many other regional parties have also thrown in their lot with it.

DMK chief Stalin was the first to officially propose the name of Congress president Rahul as the prime ministerial face of the Opposition and TDP chief Naidu has also said publicly that the Congress needed to take over the leadership role.

A senior Opposition leader, who has been in the thick of coalition building in the past, says the question is whether it would be a repeat of 1996 when the Congress backed a minority government or of 2004 when smaller parties backed a Congress-led government.

The sense of the Congress leadership this time, however, seems to be that all parties should participate in government for the sake of stability going by the experience of both 1996 and 2004 experiments. However, going by the Karnataka experiment, the party might be willing to take a backseat as far as the PM post is concerned.

Whether TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is able to fulfil her national aspirations in this new political climate remains to be seen.