'Who is this Kharge-Pharge': JD(U) MLA slams PM candidate suggestions at INDIA meet

Gopal Mandal, a JD(U) MLA, stated on Friday that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ought to be the INDIA bloc’s prime minister choice since the general public is unaware of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. “Public does not who ‘Kharge Pharge’ is. Even I don’t know he was the president of Congress. Nobody knows him. Masses don’t know him. The public knows Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar should become Prime Minister. He is popular all over India,” JDU MLA Gopal Mandal was quoted as saying by ANI. “Everything was done by Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar played the role of convenor when the alliance was named INDIA. He gathered all the regional leaders and helped in bringing them together for meetings again and again. They should choose Nitish Kumar as the Prime Minister’s face,” he said. “Congress party is not worth trusting. It was Congress under which people faced the brunt of inflation and rising prices. BJP came into power only due to their poor policies. Now BJP has taken inflation to another level. So why to pick faces of the past, pick new faces,” Mandal said. Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal put forth the name of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate earlier in the day at the national capital’s fourth meeting of the group, where all 28 partners convened to devise plans for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In the meantime, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge downplayed rumours that he will run as the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, stating that their main goal is to secure a majority. (With agency inputs)