BJP will lose 2024 polls if the Opposition unites, says WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Banerjee has called for Opposition unity and held talks with chiefs of regional parties in the recent past – Akhilesh Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, and H D Kumaraswamy

The BJP will lose (2024 elections), if all the parties in the Opposition unite, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, as her government in the state completed two years of its third tenure, with the party having stayed in power in the state for 12 years.

Banerjee – in a video – spoke of the party’s years in power in the state. She added that it’s important that a change takes place in the country. “The next election – of 2024 – will be about the change,” she said, hoping that if so much could have been done (in Bengal) in 12 years, there’s also a scope to do more (against the BJP in power).

“Ten years have passed. This government could do nothing,” Banerjee said, alleging change of history, the practising of ‘jumla politics’, and pointing at the other issues – demonetisation, ‘NRC’. “Then, why should we support this government,” she added.

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“I will tell all the Opposition parties to unite. By uniting, I am sure, the BJP will lose power this time. There’s no power on Earth that can overcome the people. The people are the first, and the last choice. We are not losers. This time we are the winners,” she said.

Banerjee has called for Opposition unity on several occasions this year. She has held talks with chiefs of regional parties in the recent past – Akhilesh Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, and HD Kumaraswamy. The Trinamool also had telephonic interaction with MK Stalin.

Last week, joining the list were Nitish Kumar, and Tejashwi Yadav. After the meeting, Banerjee had said that the idea is to see the BJP turn ‘zero’, and claimed that the party became a ‘hero’ doing nothing. The Trinamool, in the recent past, has been attempting to emerge as the leading force in the Oppositional space – a party that could steer a fight against the ruling BJP. Things, however, didn’t move as were being projected.