Will Mamata Banerjee Support Rahul Gandhi For Prime Minister In 2029? What She Said

Former Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has lost Bengal, but there are indications that she hopes to play a role nationally. This became clear not just in the recently held  INDIA bloc meet, but also in her subsequent interaction with reporters.

Asked whether she would support Congress's Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial face of the Opposition Bloc for the 2029 general election, Banerjee adroitly sidestepped the question. "Don't ask questions of this nature," Banerjee said. "We are one family. We will decide when the time comes," she added.

That the Prime Ministerial face will be decided "when the time comes" has been the Trinamool chiefs refrain over more than a decade. The lack of a decision on this issue has been cited as one of the key factors that has cost the opposition bloc at the hustings. 

This time, Banerjee had strongly supported the Opposition bloc meet to decide a strategy on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Banerjee got her opening when CPM General Secretary MA Baby wrote to INDIA bloc leaders, saying the situation arising from the conflict between the Chief Election Commissioner and the other two commissioners was unprecedented. This, he wrote, warranted an immediate meeting of the alliance. 

Banerjee had immediately dialled Baby, sources said. She said there was an urgent need for the entire Opposition to unite and draw up a common strategy. At the press conference after the meeting, she said she was ready to campaign for the DMK, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party if asked. 

Banerjee had been one of the key interlocuters of the Opposition ahead of the 2019 and 2024 elections. There was even talk of projecting her as the bloc's Prime Ministerial face. Her cooperation was even sought for a non-Congress non-BJP Third Front, which never materialised.  

This time, asked whether the INDIA alliance will hold a rally in Kolkata, where arch-rivals Trinamool and CPM will be seen together, Banerjee indicated that it is a possibility.