WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said it will “depend on the situation” who becomes the face of the Opposition to take on the BJP, but added she has no problem if someone other than her leads. Banerjee, who is on her first visit to the national capital after defeating the BJP in West Bengal, said her party Trinamool Congress’ slogan for the Assembly election – “Khela Hobe” - will now reverberate across the country and it is time for “sachhe din” (truthful days) instead of “achhe din” (good days). Banerjee is being positioned by her party as the face of the Opposition in their bid to oust the BJP in the 2024 general election.

 

The CM herself seemed ambivalent about it. “I want to help all the Opposition parties to bell the cat. I don’t want to be a leader, but a simple cadre,” she said on the leadership issue. “I am not a political astrologer. It depends on the situation, structure. I have no problem if someone else leads. When the matter is discussed we can decide. I cannot impose,” Banerjee told a select group of reporters here when asked if she would be the face of the Opposition. The TMC supremo, who is among the most vocal critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the Opposition parties will sit together and decide who would become the candidate against him. “When Modi will fight the next election, it will be with the country,” she said.