TMC' exudes confidence in United oppn, says could work a miracle in 2024

Trinamool Congress MP Shatrughan Sinha on Friday said that a united opposition could work a "miracle" in next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Sinha, who is on a trip to his home town Patna, told journalists that he was sanguine about the opposition parties' meet scheduled here on June 23.

Lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the "initiative", he also expressed delight that his party chief Mamata Banerjee has agreed to attend the meeting.

"I have always held that Mamata Banerjee is a game changer. It is great that she will be there with people like national icon Rahul Gandhi, who has acquired heroic stature after Bharat Jodo Yatra," said Sinha, who was briefly with Congress before joining TMC.

The Asansol MP hoped that the meeting will help build a common minimum programme for "the new government which replaces the current regime".

Sinha, who had represented Patna Sahib twice as a BJP MP before losing the seat to Ravi Shankar Prasad in 2019 while contesting on a Congress ticket, was asked that given his optimism, how many seats he expected the united opposition to win in 2024.

He replied, "I am not an astrologer but it can be safely said that there would be a miracle. We have seen glimpses of what can be achieved in the assembly polls of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka where the BJP got defeated by the Congress." "In Karnataka, no stone was left unturned by the BJP which ran a campaign equating Bajrang Dal with Bajrang Bali. But the party opposed to it got the blessings of the deity," added Sinha.

When asked whether he saw Nitish Kumar as "PM material", the yesteryear's Bollywood star, who has earned nicknames like "Bihari babu" and "shotgun", quipped "why not?" "I have always said whosoever enjoys public support is a PM material. You and I could be in the reckoning as well, if we had such a mass following," Sinha hastened to add.

"But let us respect the fact that Nitish Kumar has repeatedly made it clear that he is not a claimant for the prime minister's post. His initiative though is being appreciated by all," he said.