Team News Riveting
New Delhi, July 23
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee was elected unanimously as the chairperson of parliamentary party.
The election of Mamata would provide her a national political stature that would facilitate her to coordinate with other Opposition parties.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien at a press conference in Delhi said that Mamata had been the guiding force behind the TMC parliamentary party for a long time. “We are just formalising a reality. Our chairperson is a seven-time Member of Parliament. She has the vision to guide the parliamentary party. She has the experience and insight. She was anyway guiding us,” he added.
After the thumping victory of TMC in the assembly poll in West Bengal this year, Mamata Banerjee had been trying to project herself as a leader who could spearhead the Opposition narrative, something that the Congress was doing so far. The TMC is desperately looking to displace the Congress to lead the Opposition. Unlike Congress, the advantage with the TMC and Mamata Banerjee had been the acceptance with different religion parties.
“The decision has been taken both at a conceptual and tactical level. She has been a call away always. We feel more empowered,” O’Brien said, adding that the TMC MPs unanimously chose Banerjee as their leader.
