Mamata pitched for Priyanka-Modi contest in Varanasi in 2024

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has proposed the name of Priyanka Gandhi as INDIA alliance's joint candidate from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming 2024 general election, sources said on Wednesday. The suggestion was made during the fourth meeting of the INDIA alliance held in Delhi on Tuesday.

After the meeting, when asked about the suggestion, the West Bengal CM said she cannot share everything that the leaders discussed in the meeting. It was reported that she also suggested Mallikarjun Kharge's name for the prime ministerial candidate for 2024, a move that reportedly upset Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav.

Modi has won the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat twice, in 2014 and 2019, with a bumper margin. In 2014, when Modi announced his candidature from Varanasi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal challenged him from the seat but failed to make any mark. Modi secured 581,022 votes with 56.37 per cent votes while Kejriwal had to settle with just 209,238 votes at 20.30 per cent votes.