West Bengal (WB) Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday, 16 March, that even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the recently concluded Assembly elections in four out of five states, it would be difficult for the party to win the upcoming presidential election.
"The presidential elections will not be that easy for the BJP this time. They don't have even half of the total MLAs in the country. Opposition parties together have more MLAs across the nation," she was quoted as saying by PTI.
Speaking in the state Assembly, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief added that parties like the Samajwadi Party, despite losing the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, had more MLAs than it had last time.
Saying that the "game is not yet over," Banerjee said that the BJP did not even have half of the total legislators in the country, PTI reported.
Banerjee had earlier said that the Congress was losing its credibility, but added that the Opposition parties could fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together if the INC wants.
A day after the Congress suffered huge losses in five state Assembly elections, Banerjee said, "All political parties that want to fight BJP should walk together. Congress is losing their credibility, can't depend on Congress."
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The presidential polls are conducted through an indirect method, whereby members of an electoral college comprising the elected representatives in Parliament and the assemblies of states and Union Territories choose the president.
In the Assembly elections conducted this year for five states, the BJP won a majority in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa, whereas the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a landslide victory in Punjab.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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