Mamata Banerjee, not Rahul Gandhi, is the face of the Opposition, say top Trinamool leaders at party meet

Top Trinamool Congress leaders at a party workers’ meet said that party chief Mamata Banerjee, and not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trinamool Congress leaders like Sudip Bandopadhyay, Tapas Roy, Kunal Ghosh and others said this at a Kolkata programme organised by the North Kolkata district workers’ meet. The party’s mouthpiece, Jago Bangla, carried a cover story on September 17, titled, “Rahul Gandhi failed, Mamata is the alternate face”.

“The country is seeking an alternative. Rahul Gandhi has not yet succeeded in becoming the alternative face to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The alternative face is Mamata Banerjee and we will campaign across the country projecting that,” the party’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay was quoted saying.

According to senior leader Kunal Ghosh, his party neither intends to disrespect the Congress nor wants to talk about an alternative to the BJP government at the Centre without it. “Sudip Bandopadhyay has not talked about any alternative force without the Congress. He just said that people are not accepting Rahul Gandhi as an alternative face to Narendra Modi,” Ghosh said.

The Congress in West Bengal did not want to comment on the matter, stating that it’s way too early to predict who will be projected as the alternative face to Narendra Modi.