Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Humayun Kabir on Thursday, 22 October, declared that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the sole Opposition figure capable of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections — directly dismissing All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) president and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a viable alternative. Speaking from Kolkata, Kabir called on all INDIA alliance parties to unite behind Gandhi and abandon what he termed 'hypocrisy' within the Opposition bloc.

Kabir's case for Rahul Gandhi

The Nowda MLA argued that the Opposition has no credible path to power without consolidating around a single leader. 'Who else is there for the post of country's Prime Minister besides Rahul Gandhi? It will not be possible with Mamata Banerjee. The parties in the INDIA alliance should stop their hypocrisy. They must work to strengthen Rahul Gandhi's hand. Only then can the BJP be challenged during the 2029 Lok Sabha polls,' Kabir said.

He further urged Opposition parties to chart a coordinated plan well ahead of the 2029 polls, stressing that unity without strategy would not be sufficient to mount a serious challenge to the ruling party.

Why Kabir rules out Mamata Banerjee

Kabir was pointed in his assessment of Banerjee's limitations. He noted that she is currently 71 years old and will be 73 by the time the next general election arrives — a factor he cited as a political barrier. He also argued that Banerjee has lost to current West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari 'several times,' undermining her claim to national Opposition leadership.

'The former Chief Minister will not be able to become the face of the Opposition INDIA bloc again,' Kabir said, adding that her age would compound the challenge. He also pointed out that Banerjee had 'formed the Trinamool Congress by breaking the Congress' — and that her own party had now, in his words, been 'destroyed' by internal betrayals. 'Now the traitors of Trinamool Congress have betrayed her,' he said.

Context: AJUP's recent electoral setback

Kabir's remarks came in the immediate aftermath of AJUP's defeat in the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll earlier this month, where the party lost to the BJP. The timing gives his endorsement of Gandhi a dual dimension: a genuine ideological call for Opposition consolidation, but also a signal of where a newly BJP-bruised regional party sees its electoral interests lying.

Notably, this is not the first time fractures within the INDIA alliance over leadership have surfaced publicly. The bloc has struggled to agree on a common Prime Ministerial face since its formation, with regional heavyweights — including Banerjee — resisting Congress's implicit claim to lead the front.

What this means for the INDIA alliance

Kabir's intervention spotlights an unresolved tension at the heart of the Opposition coalition: whether regional leaders can subordinate their ambitions to a Congress-led national campaign. His remarks also reflect a broader view among some smaller alliance partners that only a nationally recognisable Congress figure can consolidate anti-BJP votes across states where regional parties have limited reach.

As the 2029 election cycle draws closer, the question of who leads the INDIA bloc — and on whose terms — is likely to intensify, with every regional bypoll result reshaping the internal calculus.