Nitish, Soren and I will defeat BJP in 2024 polls: Mamata

Even as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is on a mission pitching for unity among Opposition parties in the ‘national interest’ and to counter the prevailing ‘one-sided’ situation before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (September 8) too urged all non-BJP parties to join hands to defeat BJP in the next general elections.

Banerjee said that she, the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, and other leaders will come together to put up an Opposition front for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a Trinamool Congress party programme in Kolkata, Banerjee announced that she will join together with her counterparts in neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand and with several other Opposition parties to oust the BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to the TMC chief, BJP will be defeated in the elections because of its arrogance and people’s anger.

“In 2024 we will play a game that will start from Bengal. I, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren and many others will come together in 2024. All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. How will they (BJP) form govt then? There’s no need for BJP government,” she said.

Also, she said that the BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. “There will be ‘Khela Hobe’ in 2024,” declared the TMC supremo.

Also read: Oppn unity my focus, no desire to be PM, says Nitish Kumar

The Bengali phrase, ‘Khela Hobe’ (game is on) was used as a battle cry by the TMC against the BJP during the Assembly polls last year. Her party had defeated the BJP and TMC won to rule West Bengal for a third consecutive term.

Horse-trading in Jharkhand

Banerjee also slammed the BJP for indulging in alleged horse trading in Jharkhand. The “arrest of Jharkhand MLAs with hordes of cash by Bengal police recently” stopped the Hemant Soren government from falling, she said.

On July 30, three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand were nabbed by the police after their vehicle filled with cash was intercepted at Panchla in West Bengal’s Howrah district. They had ₹49 lakh in cash in their car. The MLAs, however, claimed the money was meant for buying sarees for an Adivasi festival in their state.

The Congress, which is part of the JMM-led government in Jharkhand, had alleged the BJP was trying to topple the Hemant Soren government by offering its MLAs ₹10 crore each and a ministerial berth.

Also read: On a weak wicket, Trinamool now goes on counter offensive against BJP

Meanwhile, Banerjee attacked the BJP for threatening them with CBI and ED. “The more they pursue such tricks, the more they will get closer to defeat in next year’s Panchayat election and 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” she said.

According to Banerjee, the BJP and a section of the media were allegedly unleashing a malicious campaign against her and her party leaders after the arrest of senior leaders Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal by central agencies in different cases.