Renewed attempt for national arena? Mamata Banerjee to meet MK Stalin today, Lok Sabha poll strategy high on agenda

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to hold a meeting with her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin to discuss strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll during her visit to Chennai on November 2, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Banerjee is traveling to Chennai on Wednesday as she has been invited by West Bengal Governor La Ganesan to his elder brother's birthday on November 3. The Chief Minister, who is likely to stay a night in Chennai, may pay a visit to Stalin at his camp office on November 2 soon after reaching there, the official said.

Political observers are seeing this way beyond just a courtesy meeting and rather a renewed attempt by Banerjee to become the face of the opposition by stitching together an alliance of regional parties to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

The Trinamool Congress supremo has in the past met several opposition leaders to try forge opposition unity. She had at a mega rally of her party in September claimed that she would join hands with other opposition and regional leaders to defeat the BJP in 2024. 

She had said at the rally held in Kolkata: “All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP's arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be 'Khela Hobe' in 2024.”

Opposition party leaders however questioned Banerjee's trip to Chennai on taxpayers' money to attend a family programme of a "temporary' governor.

La Ganesan had taken up the additional charge of West Bengal on July 18, 2022, besides Manipur after Jagdeep Dhankhar was nominated the vice-presidential candidate by the NDA. Dhankar's term in office had been marked by spats with Banerjee. However, the chief minister and the new Governor have since made efforts to have a cordial relationship.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury described Banerjee's visit as "Nothing but an attempt to restore her lost credentials in Indian politics".

The BJP also took a jibe at Banerjee for once again reaching out to other parties. “Earlier too, she tried to forge an alliance of Opposition parties against the BJP. But her plans fell flat as the BJP emerged victorious in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and increased its seats. This time also, Banerjee will fail in her effort to bring opposition parties together,” said state BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.

After he re-election as chief minister for the third straight term, Banerjee renewed her attempts last year to emerge as the opposition’s face against the BJP at the national level. She travelled across states, meeting leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. At the same time, her party continued to expand its footprints across the country by contesting elections in states like Goa and inducting leaders from various parties, particularly the Congress.