West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday thanked leaders backing her to lead the opposition’s INDIA bloc grouping, as talks intensify over a possible shift in the coalition’s leadership.
Addressing a gathering in Purba Medinipur, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief extended her good wishes to the leaders and their respective parties, emphasizing unity and well-being.
"I am indebted to everyone for the respect they have shown to me. I pray for their good health. I want them as well as their party to stay well. I also want INDIA to stay well," Banerjee said.
The Trinamool Congress supremo refused to speak more on the issue.
Banerjee last week expressed her dissatisfaction with the functioning of the INDIA bloc and signalled her intent to take charge of the alliance if given an opportunity. Leaders of several of its constituents backed her, saying she should be allowed to lead the coalition.
"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," she said in an interview with Bengali news channel News 18 Bangla.
Leaders such as NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and RJD president Lalu Prasad, backed her. While Pawar called her a 'capable leader', Prasad said that Banerjee should be allowed to head the INDIA bloc.
"The elected leaders she sent to Parliament are responsible, dutiful, and well-aware people. Therefore, she has the right to say so," Pawar had said.
On Tuesday, Lalu attacked the Congress, which currently leads the grouping, saying, "The Congress' reservations amount to nothing. Mamata should be given the leadership role."
YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy has also said that the TMC supremo could better handle INDIA bloc parties. YSRCP is not a part of the bloc.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav had on Monday rejected reports of a rift within the INDIA bloc over Banerjee's leadership pitch, saying "all is well" in the opposition camp.
"Anyone can say that, no one comes to politics to be a saint, everyone has ambition, but a collective decision is taken," Yadav told PTI outside Parliament.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has also indicated that his party was open to discussing if someone outside the Congress should lead the INDIA bloc. Talking to reporters in Delhi, Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, said his party's ties with the Congress leadership including Kharge and Rahul Gandhi were "excellent."
Congress is a national party and has the highest number of MPs among the INDIA allies, he noted.
"Still, if the INDIA bloc is to be strengthened again, everyone wishes to discuss (issues related to) leadership, who can give time to the alliance....(whether it could be) Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Lalu Prasad, Sharad Pawar or Akhilesh Yadav," Raut said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is at present the chairman of the Opposition grouping, formed before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
