West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as the prime ministerial candidate for the opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A. against PM Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The suggestion came during the fourth meeting of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Reports indicate that Banerjee and Kejriwal advocated for Kharge as the PM candidate. However, Kharge declined the offer, emphasizing the need to secure victories first before deciding on such matters.
"I work for the downtrodden. Let's win first. Then we will see. I don't seek anything. If we don't have MPs, then what is the point of discussing the face? So first, we need to win seats," remarked the Congress president.
According to reports, the alliance plans to launch a joint campaign for the 2024 General Elections on January 30. The meeting, attended by leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, and Sharad Pawar, took place at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi. Other participants included Lalu Prasad, T R Baalu, Sitaram Yechury, Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, D Raja, Farooq Abdullah, E T Mohammed Basheer, E K Elangovan, N K Premchandran, Jose K Mani, Supriya Sule, and Mahua Maji, among others.