PATNA, (IANS): After West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee expressed willingness to lead the opposition coalition INDIA
bloc, RJD national president Lalu Prasad endorsed her leadership on Tuesday.
“The
responsibility to lead the INDIA bloc should be given to Mamata Banerjee. I
agree with it. Nothing will happen if Congress objects. It should be given to
Mamata Banerjee,” Lalu Prasad said while speaking to the media persons in Patna
on Tuesday.
Lalu's
support for the West Bengal Chief Minister comes two days after Mamata Banerjee
expressed dissatisfaction with the current functioning of the INDIA bloc.
CM
Banerjee in an interview with a private news channel on Friday (December 6) had
said that if necessary, she can play the lead role in collective leadership by
operating from her own state.
"What
can I do if they cannot run the show? I do not lead the front. Those who are in
leadership positions there should think about it. But still, I am maintaining
my connections with the regional and national parties," she said.
On
her role in the opposition bloc, CM Banerjee had said that given an
opportunity, she would run the opposition bloc from West Bengal.
"There
are some who cannot tolerate me. If given the responsibility, though I do not
want that, I can run it (INDIA bloc) from West Bengal. But I do not want to
stay away from Bengal. I was born here and will die here," the Chief
Minister had said.
Now,
with Lalu's statement, questions are being raised about the future of the
Opposition group following a string of electoral losses.
Mamata's
ambition and Lalu's endorsement signal the growing assertiveness of regional
leaders, potentially sidelining Congress's central role.
Earlier,
senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav had said that Congress MP Rahul
Gandhi is not the leader of the INDIA bloc, adding that the grand old party's
below-par performance in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections might have made
the Trinamool Congress supremo submit her remarks.
"In
Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress is in power, they lost all four seats.
Similarly, in Karnataka and Telangana, both Congress-ruled states, they lost
half of their Lok Sabha seats. Furthermore, Congress failed to win even a
single seat in Madhya Pradesh. It suffered major losses in Chhattisgarh. Had
Congress performed better in the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi would not
have become the Prime Minister today.
