‘Discussion only after 2019 LS polls’: Mamata on Stalin’s Rahul-as-PM remark

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the issue of opposition prime ministerial candidate could be discussed after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Her comments came in the backdrop of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin’s proposal to announce Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate.

“It could be discussed only after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, once the opposition alliance emerged winners. All (opposition) parties will meet and decide on the issue. We will accept that,” Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat.

Asked whether she was one of the contenders for the job, the Trinamool Congress supremo said, “This is not the time to discuss this issue. And I am not alone. We are working together. We are solidly together,” she said.

The TMC earlier said announcing prime ministerial candidate now would be premature would as it would divide the Opposition camp.

On reports of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) coming together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls without the Congress, Banerjee said, “This is very good. It is local compulsion. We appreciate that.”

The Congress could also be fighting alone in places due to similar compulsions, she said.