United opposition could work a miracle in 2024 LS polls: Shatrughan Sinha

Trinamool Congress MP Shatrughan Sinha said that a united opposition could work a "miracle" in next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Sinha, who is on a trip to his home town Patna, told journalists on Friday that he was sanguine about the opposition parties' meet scheduled here on June 23.

Lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the "initiative", he also expressed delight that his party chief Mamata Banerjee has agreed to attend the meeting.

"I have always held that Mamata Banerjee is a game changer. It is great that she will be there with people like national icon Rahul Gandhi, who has acquired heroic stature after Bharat Jodo Yatra," said Sinha, who was briefly with Congress before joining TMC.

The Asansol MP hoped that the meeting will help build a common minimum programme for "the new government which replaces the current regime".

Sinha, who had represented Patna Sahib twice as a BJP MP before losing the seat to Ravi Shankar Prasad in 2019 while contesting on a Congress ticket, was asked that given his optimism, how many seats he expected the united opposition to win in 2024.

He replied, "I am not an astrologer but it can be safely said that there would be a miracle. We have seen glimpses of what can be achieved in the assembly polls of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka where the BJP got defeated by the Congress.