Riding high on her party's big win against the BJP in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has dropped a strong hint that the INDIA bloc could take over the reins at the Centre soon, saying that governments "sometimes last only for a day".
Speaking after a Trinamool Parliamentary Party meeting on Saturday, a day before the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers, Ms Banerjee also said her party will not be attending the event because it is being formed "illegally and undemocratically".
PM Modi and the BJP are having to depend on allies this time – especially Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JDU – because the party has managed to win only 240 Lok Sabha seats in the just-concluded elections, falling short of the majority mark by 32.
Taking a dig at the BJP for the situation it has found itself in after achieving majorities on its own twice since 2014, the Bengal chief minister said, "Those who spoke of 400 (Lok Sabha seats) could not get even a simple majority on their own. Don't think just because INDIA has not staked claim (to form a government), nothing will happen. We are waiting and watching because things change. Ultimately, it will be a new INDIA government, but let them be for a few days. Sometimes, governments last only for a day… Anything can happen, who knows if this government will last even 15 days?"
The INDIA alliance managed to clinch 232 Lok Sabha seats, thanks to a resurgent Congress and a strong showing by allies like the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the DMK. The Trinamool is the fourth largest party in Parliament and INDIA bloc members make up four of the top five, but the alliance is still far short of the number needed for a majority.
That – and even the letters of support to the BJP from NDA allies – has not, however, stopped INDIA bloc leaders from hinting that it can form a government. Even Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had said after an alliance meeting on Thursday that the INDIA alliance will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to "realise the people's desire not to be ruled by the BJP".