‘Khela Hobe’: Mamata sounds 2024 poll bugle, vows united fight to oust BJP

Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday vowed to join hands with her counterparts in Bihar and Jharkhand along with several other opposition parties to overthrow the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 general election.

Banerjee, who addressed a party programme in Kolkata, Banerjee, recalled her party’s winning slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ (during the 2021 Ass) to predict the BJP’s fate in two years, adding the saffron camp’s arrogance and people’s anger against it will bring it down.

She said Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and many others will come together in 2024. “All opposition parties will join hands to defeat the BJP. All of us will be on one side and the BJP on the other. The BJP’s arrogance of 300 seats will be its nemesis. There will be ‘Khela Hobe’ in 2024,” she said.

Banerjee also hit out at the Centre over not scheduling a meeting between her and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina who is on a visit to India.

“This is the first time the PM of Bangladesh came to India and did not come to Bengal despite her desire to meet me. I don’t know why they (BJP) are so angry. They also didn’t let me go to many places, including Chicago and China, to attend events,” the TMC supremo was quoted as saying.

Further, she slammed Narendra Modi government for unveiling a statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate. “I feel bad they are now making a Netaji Statue in Delhi. What about the statue present before?”

She said that she received a letter from an under secretary stating that PM will inaugurate the statue on Thursday and asked her to remain present for the event. “Am I their bonded labour?” Banerjee added.

Modi will inaugurate Bose’s statue during the unveiling of the newly christened Kartavya Path — a stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate that will have red granite walkways with greenery all around, refurbished canals, state-wise food stalls, new amenity blocks and vending kiosks.