Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, some leaders of the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties including Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Mamata Banerjee and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday proposed Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial face of the coalition.

The 28 parties participated in the fourth meeting of the alliance in the national capital where Banerjee and Kejriwal proposed Kharge’s name as the opposition INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate saying he can be the country’s “first Dalit prime minister” .

Kharge while reacting to the suggestion, he said that the issue will be decided later and their first priority is to try and get a majority by working together.

“First, all of us have to win, we should think about what needs to be done for victory. Who will be PM, this will be decided later. If there are less MPs, what is the point of talking about PM. First, to increase our numbers, (by) coming together, we will try to bring majority. First we will try to win,” he said.

Reacting to the proposal of Kharge’s name as the PM candidate of the INDIA bloc, BJP leader and union minister Giriraj Singh said that the proposal to “oust” Rahul Gandhi from the race.

“Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee know that Khargeji won’t be the prime ministerial candidate when Rahul Gandhi is there. Both of them have laid a trap to oust Rahul Gandhi (from the race). They have taken both of them (Kharge and Gandhi) in their trap,” Singh told PTI.

West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that the BJP is not interested in who is the prime minister from the opposition camp as it has a powerful leader like Narendra Modi in theirs.

“We don’t have any interest in this. Even people do not have any interest in it. Our leader is Narendra Modi. There is no question thinking of any other leader after having such a powerful leader like Modi,” Adhikari told ANI.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “Whatever happened in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, everyone is aware of that. What Akhilesh Yadav spoke about Kamal Nath and what Arvind Kejriwal spoke about Congress government in Chhattisgarh, everyone knows…”

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said, “To take Congress forward, they did some experiments in the past and they succeeded in it. Whether they made PV Narasimha Rao or Manmohan Singh the PM. PV Narasimha Rao remained PM for 5 years, and Manmohan Singh was the PM for 10 years. But as soon as Sonia Gandhi put forward Rahul Gandhi, after 2009 everyone has forgotten everything. If he (Mallikarjun Kharge) has come back to strengthen the Congress again then it is a good thing. I will ask my Leader of Opposition too that if they want to keep the Congress alive in Haryana, then they should bring someone else, if they keep following Deepender (Hooda), then the situation here would also be like it is there (Delhi)…”

Union minister Ramdas Athawale said that the opposition’s meeting ensured that the country doesn’t develop.

“This meeting (of INDIA alliance) was held to ensure that the country doesn’t develop. They have gathered to defeat PM Modi but it is not a child’s play,” Athawale said.

The alliance in its meeting passed a resolution on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the suspension of MPs from Parliament. It also decided to hold eight to ten joint rallies at the earliest to show the people of the country that they are united.

(With inputs from agencies)