NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee believes that Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) downfall will start with the Karnataka assembly poll.
“The earlier BJP will be out of power, the better it will be for the nation. I am hopeful it will begin from Karnataka,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said while attending a public rally in Malda.
It was the first time that Banerjee, who is affectionately called Didi, had spoken Karnataka assembly election scheduled for May 10.
Incidentally, former CM of Karnataka and JD (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy met the West Bengal CM at her residence in Kolkata on March 24. Banerjee’s nephew and party national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, was also present at the meeting.
Despite its recent reverses in fortune, JDS often plays a crucial role in Karnataka. With it having no pre-poll understanding with either Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one can never rule out any post-poll alliance if needed.
However, JDS appeared to have made up its mind as on March 24, Kumaraswamy termed Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha as a “political vendetta of the BJP”.
While there are also reports that Banerjee might campaign for JDS but with six days to go, Didi is yet to hit the ground in the southern Indian state.
Though both TMC and Congress have their differences, the former stood by the latter when Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
Which way the wind will blow is still a topic of debate but the intense fight between Congress and BJP in India’s southwest state plays a crucial role in the 2024 general election. The election could also play a big role in deciding the fate of Congress, whose fortunes dipped exponentially in the last decade.
Elections for the 224-seat Karnataka legislative assembly are scheduled to be held in a single phase on May 10. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on May 13.