West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to the Capital has been making headlines for the past week. Her meetings with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and other Opposition parties have stoked speculations that Didi may finally be shedding the regional flag and stepping into the national political arena.
The overarching message in her visit to New Delhi was that a united Opposition front is required to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 general elections.
On 28 July, she launched a series of attacks at the BJP-led Centre. She said, “We have seen a lot of achhe din and now we want to see sachche din.”
Banerjee also met PM Narendra Modi. At this "courtesy meeting", she said that she discussed the Pegasus snooping controversy.
Though general elections are three years away, Banerjee has already moved the first piece on the chessboard and has given clear indications that she wants to play a role in national politics.
Her visit to New Delhi raises the following questions:
Is a united Opposition front possible to defeat the BJP in 2024? Is Mamata Banerjee a possible PM candidate to lead such a coalition? If not her, who is most likely to be a face for this coalition?
To discuss these questions in this edition of The Big Story, we spoke to senior journalist and author Payal Singh Mohanka and The Quint’s Political Editor Aditya Menon.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)