A veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar felt that the Congress party must be prepared to give up the leadership position within the INDIA Opposition bloc. When asked if another party could take the lead of the alliance, Aiyar said, “I don’t think it’s a relevant question. The Congress should be ready to not be the leader of the bloc. Let whoever wants to lead take that role. There is competence in Mamata Banerjee. There is competence in others in the alliance.”
Aiyar underlines that the influence of Congress in this bloc is significant and added, “I don’t care who becomes the leader because the position of the Congress party will always be major. It doesn’t have to be the only one.” He expressed a sense of confidence that Rahul Gandhi would continue to hold a respected position, however not as the president of the alliance.
These remarks come in the wake of ongoing debates over leadership dynamics within the Opposition coalition, which was forged to take on the BJP’s formidable electoral machine. The alliance did well in the Lok Sabha elections, managing to restrict the ruling BJP’s majority. But it has struggled in areas where member parties are electoral rivals, and the BJP has criticized the bloc as “opportunistic.”
Despite having doubled its Lok Sabha tally in the last election, the Congress has faced reverses in recent polls in Haryana and Maharashtra. Mamata Banerjee, leader of the Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister of West Bengal, had sounded a note for greater collaboration within the opposition after the Maharashtra results. “Everyone needs to be taken along,” she said, willing to lead but preferring to operate from Bengal.
Support for Banerjee’s possible leadership position has come from other senior opposition leaders. RJD founder Lalu Prasad Yadav declared, “Congress’s objection means nothing. We will support Mamata. she should be given the leadership of the INDIA Bloc.” Likewise, NCP founder Sharad Pawar spoke out in her favor, noting that she is a leading national figure and that the parliamentarians she has fielded are capable.
Earlier, Sanjay Raut, leader of Shiv Sena (UBT) echoed a similar sentiment that Banerjee should be a major player in the INDIA alliance by saying, “We know this opinion of Mamata ji. We also want her to be a major partner of the INDIA alliance. Whether it is Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, or Shiv Sena, we are all together.”
