Mamata shows her strength

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Bannerjee has shown her strength by organizing a mammoth rally at Brigade Ground in Kolkata. Mamta has called that Modi govt. is past expiry date. About 20 Opposition parties have participated in the mammoth gathering against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. They wanted to project themselves as the unifying force and BJP as dividing elements of the country. The mood of the opposition parties, especially Congress party, is upbeat after defeating the BJP in the recently concluded three assembly elections on the state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. The alliance between Mayati's BSP and Akhilesh Yadav's SP has also boosted them morally. Undoubtedly, Mamata is one of the towering leaders in the opposition camp. She holds sway in Kolkata and no opposition leader either from the Left, Congress or BJP is there to challenge her. In the last Lok Sabha elections, TMC had won 34 Lok Sabha seats from Kolkata. The intention behind organizing a massive meeting of opposition leaders under the leadership of Mamata Bannerjee is to give the clear message that in the race for the post of Prime Ministership, she is ahead all of the opposition leaders. Her party TMC projects her as the strongest claimant for the post of Prime Minister among opposition leaders. One thing is clear that 2019 is not going to be 2014 for the BJP. There is no wave this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is certainly the single most popular leader in the country. He is far ahead of all leaders in popularity. But as far as the performance of his government is concerned, the disillusionment has set in among the people. The rising unemployment, intolerance, agrarian crisis and economic mismanagement have given fodder to the opposition leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed to deliver on the promises that he made to the people in 2014 at the time of electioneering. It is not only Mamata Bannerjee puts forward her claim on the post of PM, but also Mayawati, Mulayam, Sharad Pawar, KCR Rao, Chandrababu Naidu. Though Congress has not formally projected its party president Rahul Gandhi as Prime Ministerial candidate for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, demands have started coming from certain quarters of the party to project him as PM candidate. One thing is also clear that among the leaders of non-BJP political parties cannot be PM without the support of Congress. Mamata has shown her strength to the BJP as well as other opposition parties that she is one of the strongest claimants for the post of PM. The ruling BJP always hits on opposition weak spot by asking who is your prime ministerial candidate. It is true of their saying that opposition leaders positions are like One Anar, Sao Bimar. The opposition parties must sit together and reach a consensus on the issue of the prime ministerial candidate. Undoubtedly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a charismatic leader of BJP. He is capable of winning elections for the party single-handedly. He appeals to the people. Despite the sharp decline in the popularity of BJP, PM Modi is still the most popular leader in the country.