'Why not? Why can't he be PM?': Farooq Abdullah bats for this leader in 2024

2024 Lok Sabha election: Several opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, have been touted as challengers to the BJP and Narendra Modi in next year's poll.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday backed Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin to be a joint opposition's prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. "Why not? Why can't he become the PM? What is wrong about it?" he asked reporters when asked about the possibility of a joint challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader and Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah at Parliament House in New Delhi on the first day of the Budget Session. (ANI Photo)

However, the veteran politician - a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir - also offered a gentle reminder of work be done to defeat the BJP.

"When we all unite and win… it will be at that time that they (a joint opposition) will decide who is the best man to lead and unite this nation."

Farooq Abdullah is in Chennai for Stalin's 70th birthday celebrations; the ruling DMK has organised a public meeting to also push for a united opposition.

As the opposition preps for next year, many names have been floated as possible challengers to Modi, including Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana's K Chandrashekar Rao. Neither is expected to be present today.

Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee was at the centre of a big push after her statement win over the BJP in the 2021 Bengal Assembly election, when she reached out to other parties, including the Congress and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, but that buzz has dimmed in recent months.

And KCR, as the Telangana chief minister is called, has plans of his own, as evinced by the re-launch of his Telangana Rashtra Samithi as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. How effective the rebranding and strong the challenge will be should become clearer after this year's Telangana Assembly election.

In January KCR held a mega meeting - the first after the rebranding of his party - that was attended by his counterparts from Kerala (Pinarayi Vijayan), Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) and Punjab (Bhagwant Mann) as well as the Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, who will also be at Stalin's meeting today.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will also be absent; the Janata Dal (United) boss is celebrating his own birthday but has distanced himself from the PM's post. His deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav - seen as the Mahagathbandhan leader in the 2025 election - will be present.

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DMK boss Stalin's name hasn't been quite as frequently heard during discussion of a PM candidate to challenge Modi but Abdullah praised the Tamil leader's credentials. "…Stalin and DMK has done very well to see (the) nation's unity. India is unity in diversity. If you protect diversity, you'll protect unity. So, from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari, they (the DMK) are trying to unite India," he said.

"I hope it will further strengthen and I hope other leaders will also think in the same terms… and we (will then) have a happy nation," Abdullah told reporters.

With input from ANI