Kharge turns down proposal to be INDIA alliance’s PM candidate

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has turned down suggestion about being the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said the issue will be decided later and their first priority is to try and get a majority by working together. VCK parliamentarian Thol. Thirumavalavan said after a meeting of INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed that Kharge should be the coordinator of the INDIA bloc and that he should be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the Lok Sabha battle. Kharge responded to the issue during an interaction with the media after the INDIA block meeting. “First, all of us have to win, we should think about what needs to be done for victory. Who will be PM, this will be decided later. If there are less MPs, what is the point of talking about PM. First, to increase our numbers, (by) coming together, we will try to bring majority. First we will try to win,” he said. Kharge also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of arrogance after BJP won three of the five states where elections were held last month. The VCK MP said that Kharge rejected the suggestion to be the prime ministerial face of the INDIA parties. “Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal proposed that Mallikarjun Kharge must be the coordinator of this INDIA team and we will project him as the Prime Minister in the forthcoming elections. But Khargeji rejected this categorically. He said – no need for this suggestion, after the election only we can decide who is the PM. He immediately rejected this point,” Thirumavalavan said.