West Bengal Chief Miniter Mamata Banerjee, while speaking with reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, confirmed that she proposed Mallikarjun Kharge's name as PM candidate during the alliance meeting on Tuesday.
"I have proposed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's name. Arvind Kejriwal supported my proposal," she said.
Earlier the sources said tt the fourth meeting of the alliance, Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed the name of Kharge as PM face, but the Congress chief said it was important to win and increase the opposition's strength first. MDMK's Vaiko and other leaders confirmed that Banerjee and Kejriwal proposed Kharge's name for the PM face of the alliance so that he could be the country's first Dalit prime minister.
"We should decide on how to win first. If you don't have MPs, then what is the use of discussing the prime minister (candidate)? We will first try and win a majority first. We will first try and win unitedly. "We will first win and then our MPs will decide democratically," Kharge said at a press conference after the meeting when asked if he was the PM face of the opposition alliance. Sources said Kharge told the leaders that he never played the politics of being a downtrodden person or as a Dalit and stood for equality as he has fought for it all along.
The sources add that Kharge said that he has been a fighter and not a caste leader. He reportedly told them that he works for the poor and therefore has won continuously for over 50 years.
He said he will first strive to defeat Narendra Modi and unitedly take on the BJP.
