In 2024 Polls, United Opposition Could Work a “Miracle”: Shatrughan Sinha

GG News Bureau

Patna, 10th June. Shatrughan Sinha, a Trinamool Congress MP, stated on Friday that a united opposition could work a “miracle” in next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Shartughan Sinha, who is in his hometown of Patna, told journalists that he is optimistic about the opposition parties’ meeting set on June 23.

He praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the “initiative” and expressed happiness that his party’s leader, Mamata Banerjee, had consented 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 Shatrughan 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”.

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

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 Shatrughan 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,” Shatrughan 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.