New Delhi:

BJP chief Agnimitra Paul has dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The West Bengal chief urged Ms Banerjee to face towards PM Modi from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

“Why would not Mamata Banerjee contest from Varanasi? If Mamata Banerjee has the braveness to compete instead of Congress chief Priyanka Gandhi, then she ought to try this. You wish to develop into Prime Minister, proper? Then she ought to contest towards our Prime Minister,” Agnimitra Paul instructed information company ANI.

#WATCH कोलकाता: पश्चिम बंगाल से भाजपा विधायक अग्निमित्रा पॉल ने कहा, “…सीट शेयरिंग से पहले ममता बनर्जी में अगर हिम्मत हो तो वाराणसी से प्रधानमंत्री मोदी के खिलाफ वे चुनावी मैदान में उतरें…अधीर रंजन चौधरी को अपने प्रदेश कांग्रेस के ऑफिस को ताला लगा देना चाहिए और TMC के ऑफिस… pic.twitter.com/1TOqu6iqtS

— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) December 22, 2023

Ms Paul’s response got here days after the Bengal Chief Minister urged the INDIA bloc to finalise the seat-sharing association for the 2024 polls. Trinamool Congress has pitched that Mamata Banerjee must be the face of the Opposition alliance.

Trinamool is keen to expedite seat-sharing talks, set up a collective narrative, and finalise the manifesto to current a reputable problem towards the BJP within the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources say Mamata Banerjee can also be open to seat-sharing talks with the Congress amidst murmurs that some Congress leaders within the state had been pushing for a seat-sharing association with the Left – an train that hasn’t yielded outcomes prior to now with the Left and the Congress performing abysmally in 2019. This time with the INDIA alliance taking form and the CPI(M) opting out of any alliance within the state with the TMC, the Congress, which expects a consolidation of Muslim votes, is hoping to get extra seats to contest in Bengal.