Forming Consensus On A Face To Take On BJP In 2024 Big Task: Sanjay Raut

Sanjay Raut said NCP chief Sharad Pawar is a senior national leader and some people are thinking about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too.

Amid speculation over the likely formation of a third front, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut today said bringing all the opposition parties together and forming a consensus on a face to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections is a huge task given that every regional party considers itself a king and tries to "dictate terms". Asked if that probable face would be Sharad Pawar, Mr Raut said the NCP chief is a senior national leader but at the same time, some people are thinking about West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. "It is a huge task to bring all the Opposition parties together and form a consensus on a face to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. Every opposition party equates itself with a king and tries to dictate terms," he told a regional news channel in Delhi. "We need a face to counter the Union government like Jayaprakash Narayan against then PM Indira Gandhi in post-emergency polls, V P Singh against Rajiv Gandhi. Later, (then prime minister) Manmohan Singh and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi duo were challenged by Narendra Modi in the 2014 general elections," Raut said.