West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the present focus should be on defeating the ruling party, as the name of the prime ministerial candidate could be decided later.
“Prime minister doesn’t matter… Let’s first defeat the BJP and then we will see (on PM candidate),” Banerjee told reporters when asked about her being the frontrunner for the top post.
Her comments came in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently mocking the lack of unity in the Opposition. The Congress, too, had indicated it was open to considering any Opposition leader as PM.
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Banerjee, who has been at the forefront of efforts to rally opposition parties for an anti-BJP front, spent the second day of her Delhi visit meeting leaders of various parties including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“We discussed current politics and the possibility of all of us contesting elections together in future. In 2019, it will be collective leadership,” she said after her meeting with the Gandhis at 10 Janpath.
Besides leaders of the Congress, TDP, YSR(Congress), DMK, RJD, SP and JD(S), she also met BJP veteran L K Advani, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and dissident BJP leaders.
“The opposition is united. In 2019 BJP will be finished,” Banerjee, who invited the leaders of the opposition parties as well as Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to her January 19 rally in Kolkata, told reporters.
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