Opposition Flexes Its Muscle In Kolkata

PM candidate, not a priority; BJP past its expiry date, Mamata tells rally attended by 20 key leaders

- Shiv Sahay Singh Suvojit Bagchi

Setting the agenda of the United Opposition at a massive rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds here on Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the selection of a prime ministerial candidate was not the priority of the over 20 parties assembled in the city. Instead, she said it was not important to have a face but to unite like opposing forces in nature — "the light and the shade or the rain and the sun" — setting aside differences with a common goal to defeat the BJP.

In the presence of the entire anti-BJP spectrum of parties, she argued that the national party was "past its expiry date."

Many top leaders, including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, echoed her views, saying the parties should "immediately" come together to structure an Opposition road map for the 2019 election. Mr. Gowda, who led a complex coalition government two decades ago, warned that "time is short and the work is difficult."

Ms. Banerjee said the "beginning of the end of the BJP" had started from this meeting. "This is not the time to think about the next Prime Minister. The question does not arise. We will decide that, all together, after the election," she said as she spoke at the end of the rally. She argued that the BJP's strategy to ask "who would be the leader" of the Opposition was a ploy to divide the Opposition. "[Any] one [person] is not important but everybody needs to come together [as] the collective leadership is important," she said.