Mamata Banerjee has an inflated ego. She thinks she is the fulcrum of Indian politics. The West Bengal chief minister – clearly delusional, does not seem to understand the weight of the Bharatiya Janata Party across India. In the back of the recent state assembly victories, the BJP’s electoral juggernaut has been revived. The TMC supremo, for reasons best known to her, still thinks the BJP can be taken down by her at a national level. Consecutive defeats in Tripura and Goa have taught the TMC no lessons.
Why else would Mamata Banerjee come out in the open and challenge the BJP with the presidential elections, due in June-July this year? That’s right. The TMC seems to be of the opinion that it can trump the mammoth NDA alliance and miraculously make an opposition presidential candidate set up residency at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Mamata Banerjee’s Threat to the BJP
On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee said that without the support of the Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre will not have a free run in the upcoming Presidential election. She said, “Presidential elections will take place soon. Without our support, you (BJP) will not sail through. You should not forget that.”
Banerjee claimed that the saffron party does not have half of the country’s total legislators, and it might not be easy for the party to win the Presidential election. Intriguingly, the Bengal chief minister threatened the BJP with the ‘Akhilesh Yadav’ card.
She sought to remind the BJP that the Samajwadi Party’s seat share had increased in Uttar Pradesh and that the same could spell doom for the BJP’s presidential plans. Setting her own metric to predict the result of the presidential election, Mamata warned the BJP to not ‘talk big.’
BJP and Partners Set to Have a Cakewalk
Mamata Banerjee is a lone wolf. Not many within the opposition camp view her as a viable challenger to the BJP. If at all, the TMC is viewed as a pariah. Therefore, if Mamata Banerjee thinks she can bring the opposition together to elect a president of their choice, she is ridiculously mistaken.
Through its control over Rajya Sabha and several states, BJP can choose a President of its choice rather effortlessly. The President is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and MLAs in state assemblies. In addition to control over two houses of Parliament, BJP is heading the government in 17 states of India.
Riding on the back of recent victories in elections, the NDA is set to attain a majority in the 243-seat upper house of Parliament. The saffron party will get three more Rajya Sabha seats in UP. Additionally, it is set to snatch four seats from the Congress in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The nationalist party’s seat share in the Rajya Sabha is expected to increase from 97 to 104.
On the other hand, BJP’s NDA coalition members will comfortably have 19 more seats by the end of the Rajya Sabha elections, taking the total tally of NDA in the upper house to 123. A party or coalition requires 122 seats out of 243 seats for the majority in the upper house.
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There is a high likelihood that the opposition will unanimously support the BJP’s candidate for the post of President. Even if it does not, the opposition will never be able to come together as one bloc to vote against the saffron party’s candidate. The presidential election is settled – the NDA’s candidate will be winning.
Therefore, Mamata Banerjee’s threatening the BJP is laughable and impeccably immature. She has no say in the election of India’s new ‘Mahamahim.’ The sooner she comes to realise this, the better it will be for her and the TMC.